When I Met Daryl Dixon
by AnneBTWD
Summary: A first person fanfic about "The Walking Dead". Rating is T for language and some graphic descriptions. Daryl/OC. Completed.
1. The Beginning

I was in school when it started. The day was a usual Wednesday, and it was the first time in a long time I didn't have rehearsal for my play three days a week. The closing night performance had been the last Friday, and everyone told me they loved it. I was sitting in first period Social Studies, and it was clear that we were all still waking up. I'll admit it: I do well in school. Sure, I have trouble in Algebra and Science sometimes, but I figure it out. Well, I did figure it out. Before this all happened, I was best friends with a girl named Lizzy. She was right by my side when the first zombie entered the school, but I lost her in the chaos. I'm Annie. I have red hair and hazel eyes, and I'm thirteen. I'm 5'1", so I'm used to being the short one. Now that I've summarized my old life, I guess I should start with what happened.

My teacher was talking about our conclusion of the Civil War unit. We were taking notes on what would be on the test the next day. A call came on the intercom, telling everyone that a hostile person had broken in. My teacher went to lock the door and turn the lights off, but the zombie was already in. My teacher tried to calmly ask the person what they were doing, but when its jaws snapped at him, we all gasped. The zombie staggered toward my teacher, clearing the door for a quick exit.

"Kids, run!" my teacher yelled.

None of us hesitated to leave the room, but I turned around just as the walker's jaws closed around my teacher's arm. I screamed and ran out, but the class was already ahead. I had no idea which exit they had taken. I made a split second decision to head right, and I burst through the door. What awaited me sent chills down my spine.

The school was surrounded. There was no way out. Walkers filled the parking lot and attacked running students. I saw the very two people that I disliked most get grabbed by the mob, but I wasn't happy about their deaths. I knew they would be happy to see me be killed, but I remembered that no one deserved to die like that.

I pushed vivid images of the dead destroying the living out of my mind as I ran at full speed. In my opinion, I need to lose a few pounds, so I'm not the fastest runner. I can run quickly for a short distance, so jogging slowly is harder. Luckily, the elementary school was right across the street, so it only took me several seconds to make it over there.

Running up to the main entrance, I pulled on the door handle. It was locked. I tried buzzing in, hoping that there were no walkers in the school, but the secretary didn't answer. I took a deep breath, wishing that I had grabbed something sharp from my school. It was too late to go back now. "Please! Let me in! My brother is in there!" I screamed as I pounded on the door. I saw something move, so I yelled louder. Someone shuffled up to the door, and with horror I realized that it was the principal. She was a zombie with a bite in her neck and an arm missing. Her intestines hung out of her stomach as she staggered closer to the door. Finally pulling my eyes away from the dead principal, I looked left and right. To my right there was a short gate that had access to the blacktop and playground. I climbed over the gate and sprinted across the pavement. Tugging on the door, I held my breath. With a creak, it swung open.


	2. Meeting Daryl

As I raced down the hallway, I told myself that I needed to get in, get my brother, and then get out. I knew that other people would be in danger, but I had to worry about who I cared about the most. I ran up the stairs two at a time and turned left at the top. I followed the hallway until I reached my brother's classroom. All of the kids looked to be were dead or dying on the floor.

Panicked, I called, "Sean? Where are you?"

A head poked out from behind a filing cabinet. I ran to my brother, grinning.

Grabbing him, I yelled, "Sean! You're okay!"

My brother is nine and acts like a tough guy, but he bawled into my shoulder, whimpering about how his friend was killed while taking down a zombie. Sean's teacher was face down on the floor and didn't seem to be breathing.

"I know you don't want to leave your friends, but we need to go alone. It's important that we can move quickly," I told my brother.

"Excuse me, miss," a girl's voice timidly asked from behind the cabinet that Sean had come from.

"Yeah?" I asked when she stood up.

"My mommy is supposed to be coming to get me soon. I have a doctor's appointment and she was going to take me out early."

"Do you know of anyone else who might be coming to get you? Any family or friends?"

"Maybe Daryl," she said after a minute.

"Who's Daryl?" I asked her.

"He's the man who walks me home from school every day so I don't get lost. I'm Sophia, by the way."

"I'm Annie, Sean's sister."

"Can we please take Sophia?" Sean asked.

I looked around at the dead kids and teacher. There was nothing I could do to help them now, but I felt a twinge of guilt for not being able to help them. Reminding myself that this was the zombies' fault, not mine, I decided to bring Sophia. She was the only other kid alive, and it didn't seem right to leave her behind.

"Come on Sean and Sophia," I told them.

Sophia wrapped me into a bear hug, sobbing.

I hugged her back and told her, "We'll find your mom, okay? Let's go."

The kids nodded and followed me downstairs and out the door. Outside were a man and woman on a motorcycle. They looked at us when they heard the door open.

"Sophia!" the woman cried.

"Mommy!" Sophia returned to her mother.

The man watched them embrace with a smile on his lips. He obviously cared about the little girl just as much as her mother did. I figured that he was her father, which was too bad because he was very attractive. His dark brown hair framed perfectly blue eyes. The man met my gaze and nodded at me. I was confused. What did he mean?

"Hi, I'm Carol," Sophia's mother introduced herself. "This is Daryl, a family friend," she said gesturing towards the man. "And you've already met Sophia."

"I'm Annie, and this is my brother, Sean," I told her. "I came here from the middle/high school across the street to come get him."

"What made you help Sophia?" Carol asked.

"My brother wanted to take her, so I agreed that we should help her find you. And… everyone else was dead."

Carol tackled me in a hug. "Thank you so much! My daughter means everything to me, and because of you, she's alive!"

"It's fine, really," I told her. "It was Sean's idea."

Carol stopped hugging me and grabbed my brother. "We're very grateful for what you did. Thank you."

Sean stared at the ground. He had obviously never met Carol before, and he's shy around new people. I am too, but I guess Carol just had something trustworthy about her. And Daryl. Especially Daryl.

"We need a car," Daryl said. "We can't all fit on the motorcycle, but we should still bring it with us."

After searching the parking lot for a good fifteen minutes, we found a very small car that belonged to one of the teachers. Daryl hotwired it and Carol sat in the driver's seat.

"The car has no backseat," Carol sighed, looking behind her into the car. "Two people have to share the passenger seat and one will ride the bike with Daryl."

Of course, I was excited at the option of riding behind Daryl on his motorcycle, but I kept quiet. I thought that maybe Sean would want to stay with me.

"Sean, you could sit on Annie's lap and Sophia could take the bike with Daryl," Carol suggested.

Sophia looked up at her mother with tear filled eyes. She had just been reunited with Carol, and although she trusted Daryl, she needed her mom.

"Are you okay riding in the car with Sophia and her mom?" I asked my brother. "Sophia really wants to stay with Carol."

"Yeah, I guess. You're not going anywhere, right?" my brother said.

"I'm riding the bike with Daryl," I told Sean. "We'll meet up. Don't worry."

I hugged my little brother and closed the car door. Walking over to Daryl, my heart fluttered. He was the definition of perfect as far as looks went. I told myself not to get caught up in his appearance, because there had been plenty of hot guys at my school who were total jerks.

"Here," Daryl said, pulling me out of my daydreams. "You'll need this." He handed me a helmet.

"Where's yours?" I asked.

"You're holding it. I'm fine without one. I'd rather keep you safe."

I smiled at him, and he smiled back. Daryl climbed on and patted the back seat. I put his helmet on and sat behind him.

"Hold on to me," Daryl said. "You don't want to fall off."

I blushed, but he didn't see it. I wrapped my arms around his waist. I could feel his muscles underneath his thin t-shirt. Breathing steadily, I tried not to freak out at the fact that I was literally hugging the hottest guy I had ever seen. Daryl started the bike and we were off with Carol and the kids in the car behind us.


	3. A Safe Place

I had never ridden a motorcycle before. I figured there would be some wind, but I had no idea that it would cut through my t shirt and jeans like it did. I was shivering as I held onto Daryl.

The bike slowed down and soon rolled to a stop. Daryl got up and lifted me off his motorcycle.

"What's wrong?" I asked, concerned that he had heard or seen walkers nearby.

"You're freezing," Daryl said.

"I'm ok."

Daryl grabbed my hands and held them in his. A wave of warmth rushed through me, and not just because my hands were regaining feeling.

"You're freezing," Daryl repeated.

He took off his jacket and slipped it on to my arms and over my shoulders. The jacket's sleeves covered my hands with some room to spare. The trim went down to my lower thighs. I was so much warmer now, inside and out.

Daryl and I got back on the motorcycle. He waved to Carol, who had been watching us the whole time, and we were off once again.

After another hour or so of driving, Daryl stopped the bike and we got off. Carol got out of the car after waking the groggy Sophia and Sean.

"We should stay here for the night," Daryl said. "It looks like an abandoned camp ground, and it would be safer than sleeping out in the open."

"You're right," Carol agreed. "Sophia and I will take that little cabin over there, Annie and Sean can have the one in the middle, and you can sleep in the other one."

"Mommy, I'm hungry," Sophia whined.

"I'll go get us some dinner," Daryl said, taking a crossbow out of the car. "Annie, come on. I could use an extra pair of hands."

I followed Daryl into the woods a little ways until he motioned for me to stay still. I watched him as he shot a few arrows at a squirrel.

"Can you teach me how to do that?" I asked. "I need to be able to get food and defend myself."

"Here," Daryl said, giving me the crossbow. "Hold it like this." He moved my hands a little. "Raise the crossbow to eye level." Daryl stepped behind me and wrapped his arms around me to help me shoot. "And pull back on this to fire an arrow. Try it on that tree over there."

I concentrated on what Daryl had showed me and focused on the tree. I fired the arrow and it struck the tree. It was a little off from where I had been aiming, but at least it had hit the tree.

"See? You're a natural!" Daryl grinned.

I smiled back at him and took a few more practice shots. We retrieved the arrows from the tree and finished catching dinner.

Carol used to write cookbooks, so she cooked our food for us. Sean and Sophia gobbled down their meals and fell asleep in minutes. Daryl volunteered to keep watch even though there was a fence around the camp. Carol and I sat by the fire.

"So, you and Daryl, huh?" Carol teased.

Blushing, I replied, "What are you talking about?"

"Come on, I know you're interested. What do you wanna know about him?"

"As much as I can."

Carol laughed and said, "He's nineteen, but he acts a lot older. He grew up with an abusive father, and he lost his older brother a few years ago. It's been hard for him, but he's a great guy. He's a fighter. Tell me about you."

"I'm thirteen. I don't really have much to tell. My parents both had good paying jobs, so I had a good life. I've been with guys before, but I consider none of them having been legitimate boyfriends. I've never kissed anyone or been out on a real date. So I'm kind of a loser," I smiled.

"Daryl's never been in love," Carol said.

"How do you know?"

"He hasn't dated too much, but he always broke things off with girls who were crazy about him because he didn't feel the same way. He's gone hard after losing his brother, but I think that spending time with Sophia and I has helped him. Speaking of Sophia, do you mind if I join her? I'm exhausted."

I yawned, "I'm tired too. Goodnight, Carol."

"Goodnight, Annie," Carol said before slipping into her cabin.

I was just about to go into the cabin I shared with my brother when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I turned around to see an arrow sticking out of a tree. I recognized it as Daryl's. There was a note wrapped around it, so I took if off and read it.

The note said: "Sleep well, Annie. I'll see you in the morning. Keep the jacket. -Daryl."

I looked down at my arms to realize I was still wearing Daryl's jacket. I slipped the note into my pocket and went to bed. As I dozed off, I hugged myself just to remember that Daryl had given me something. I smiled again, which I had been doing a lot this afternoon (maybe because of Daryl), and fell asleep.


	4. Almost

The next morning, my eyes opened slowly. I looked around, and suddenly sat up. I relaxed a little once I remembered what had happened the day before. I was glad that Carol, Sophia, Sean, Daryl and I were safe. I smiled when I thought of Daryl's name. Daryl and Annie. Annie and Daryl. He was so perfect.

I got up and decided to check on my brother. I gasped when I saw his bed empty.

"Sean!" I called, panic rising in my chest.

"What's wrong?" Daryl yelled, rushing into my cabin.

"I can't find my brother."

"Let's go. We'll find him," Daryl assured me.

I nodded and ran with him into the woods.

"Sean! Where are you?" I called as I ran.

I saw a boy near the stream and relief rushed over me. He was just standing there. I figured he must have been scared, so I rushed over to embrace my brother.

"Annie, wait!" Daryl shouted.

I stopped dead in my tracks. What was wrong with me going to hug my brother?

"Stand back," he said. "That's not your brother."

"Are you trying to tell me that I don't know my own little brother?" I cried.

"No, I mean that's a walker."

I gasped. "He was bitten?"

"Look at his face. That's not Sean."

I examined the walker's face and realized that it wasn't my brother. It looked like him from behind, but the zombie had blue eyes and a face full of acne. He was probably around eleven, and just extremely small for his age.

"It's stuck in the mud," I told Daryl. "That's why it didn't come after us."

Daryl looked at the walker's feet and nodded. "Come on, let's keep looking. He couldn't have gotten far."

I heard a scream nearby and my spine stiffened. It sounded like Sean. I took off at a sprint and ran the fastest I had ever run before. Daryl followed close behind me, on the lookout for walkers.

"Annie!" Sean screamed.

"I'm here! Where are you?" I yelled back.

I heard a gunshot and ran faster. My heart was pounding out of my chest and I couldn't breathe, but I kept going. I felt something hit me with a thump and I fell to the ground.

"Annie!" Sean cried as he hugged me tightly.

"Sean! You're okay!" I was overjoyed to hold my breathing brother back in my arms. I let him cry into my shoulder until he sat up and wiped his eyes.

"Oh cool! A crossbow! Why didn't you show me earlier?" Sean said, seeing Daryl.

"You were asleep when I got dinner last night," Daryl replied. "I showed your sister how to use it, and if you're half as good with it as she was, you'll do great."

I met Daryl's eyes and grinned. He smiled back at me, and out of the corner of my eye I saw my brother looking back and forth between us with confusion. Our smiles disappeared a second later when we heard another gunshot.

Daryl ran towards the sound of the gunshot. Sean and I followed him. When we could finally see the people who fired the shot, my brother and I stopped behind Daryl, whose crossbow was raised.

"Who are you and what were you shooting at?" Daryl asked.

"Woah, Woah! Calm down, brother!" One man yelled.

"Take another step closer and you can be sure you'll end up with an arrow in your chest!" Daryl yelled.

"I think you'd better think about your options," the man replied.

"Daryl!" I screamed as I whirled around.

Daryl turned to see a fist collide with his face. He fell down and the man grabbed me.

"Let me go! Daryl, help!" I screeched.

Daryl raised his head to see the man with his arms around me, crushing me lungs.

"Let her go!" Daryl demanded.

"I don't think so," the man said. "Justin," he nodded to the man who had punched Daryl.

Justin kicked Daryl over and over as the man who held me laughed.

"Leave him alone!" I screamed.

I turned to see the woman holding Sean.

"Let them go, please!" I pleaded.

"Hey, it's okay, darling," the man said as he held me. "Gimme a little kiss."

The man pulled me closer as I punched at his chest, but he was too strong. I struggled with the man, knowing that he would win this battle.

Daryl suddenly jumped to his feet, surprising Justin. Daryl kicked him down and stomped his boot on Justin's face.

He turned to the man holding me and growled, "Let her go."

The man looked at Daryl and laughed. "Is this your little girlfriend?"

"Don't you fucking touch her!" Daryl bellowed.

He ran at the man and knocked him over. Daryl grabbed his throat and pushed hard. I scrambled out of the way, but Daryl kept going. The man was struggling for air and his face was getting red.

I ran to my brother and looked at the woman.

"Walk away," I told her.

She blinked at me and released her grip, but she didn't move.

"Go!" I screamed.

The woman ran off into the woods and didn't look back.

Daryl was still chocking the man.

"Daryl, let go!" I yelled. "You're gonna kill him!"

After a moment, he released his grip. Daryl pulled me into a bone crushing hug.

"It's okay, I'm okay," I told him as I hugged him back.

Daryl pulled away and pressed his face to mine. Our noses touched and he put his hand on my chin, tilting my face up toward his.

"He could've hurt you," Daryl murmured softly.

He walked away, leaving me standing there. I was breathless, but I cleared my throat and started walking again.

"Come on, Sean, let's go," I told my brother.

For the next week, everything happened normally. Well, as normally as it could go. Daryl and I went out to see if the men were still there, but they were gone. We continued to catch food for Carol, Sophia, and Sean. Daryl and I talked about our old lives, but nothing had really happened after our almost kiss. But one thing was certain: I definitely had feelings for Daryl Dixon.


	5. Old Friends, Old Enemies

A few weeks after the apocalypse started, I went out with Daryl to get breakfast. The group still consisted of us, my brother, Carol, and Sophia. Sean and Sophia were nice to each other and never fought, but I could tell that they were itching for their old friends back.

"Hold up," Daryl said suddenly.

I froze in my tracks and whispered, "What is it?"

"I hear someone."

We inched forward carefully. I spied a dark blue sweatshirt through the trees.

A familiar voice said, "What else can we do? I mean, we're starving, and we have no place to go."

"I already told you, we can go buy some nice breakfast," a man said.

Someone sighed, "Tim, how many times have I told you? Money is worth nothing when the world is coming to an end."

"My name is Togami," the man said.

"Whatever," the voice said back.

I recognized the voice talking to Togami. I tapped Daryl's arm.

"I know that voice! That's my friend Tyra! I went to school with her!" I whispered excitedly.

"Go ahead and see her, but be careful," Daryl warned.

I nodded and ran into the clearing. I saw my friends, Tyra and Marissa, standing with two unfamiliar men. The men were about the same height and wore expensive clothing. One of them was pretty fat, and the other was skinny. A head peeked out from behind the four people. I gasped when I realized that it was Justin.

"Daryl!" I yelled. "It's Justin! He's back!"

Daryl sprang out from behind a tree with his crossbow raised.

"Don't move!" he shouted to my friends and the men.

They turned to see Justin, who looked like he had been planning on attacking them.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now," Daryl growled.

"I've got someone with me," Justin pleaded. "Someone hurt."

The woman who had restrained Sean a few weeks earlier appeared behind Justin. She was holding her left arm. Blood flowed through her fingers.

"This is Maggie," Justin explained. "She was shot a few days ago. We remembered that you people were here, and we came to see if you would help."

"Where's the other guy you were with last time?" Daryl demanded.

"We left him. He shot Maggie. Walkers overran our shelter, so he's probably dead."

"Take a walk."

"Daryl, she's hurt," I protested. "We can't just leave her. We have to help."

"Annie's right," Tyra said. Marissa and the two men nodded.

"Who are you people anyways?" Daryl spat.

"I'm Tyra, and this is Marissa," Tyra said. "We're friends of Annie's."

"And these are the Togami twins," Marissa told Daryl. "I wasn't in school the day this started because I was out with them. They're rich."

"Did you ever decide which one of them to date?" I asked her.

Marissa nodded. "I'm with both of them."

"So, do you guys have anywhere to stay?" Tyra asked, trying to get off the topic of Marissa's love life. I figured she probably had something for one of the twins.

"We're at the camp ground on the other side of the woods. There are only three cabins, but we can make it work for tonight. Tomorrow we should find a new place so we have more room," I said.

Daryl grabbed my hand. He leaned close to me and whispered in my ear, "Are you sure we can trust these people?"

I squeezed his hand. "I'm positive. I trust my friends, and if they trust the twins, I trust them too."

We released each other's hands and led everyone back to camp. Everyone agreed that Carol, Sophia, Sean, Daryl, and I would share the biggest cabin. Marissa, Tyra, and the Togamis took the decent sized cabin, and Justin and Maggie shared the smallest one. Carol bandaged Maggie's gunshot wound as best she could, but she said that she would need better supplies for Maggie to be able to fully heal.

Daryl and I went back out into the woods a few hours later to catch breakfast.

"Your friends seem nice," Daryl said.

"Yeah," I replied.

"We never really talked about relationships. I mean, friends and family."

"No, not really. Well, Tyra and Marissa are my friends. I was with my friend Lizzy when this all started, but I lost her. I know she's okay, though. She's strong. Sean is the only family that I know is okay. I haven't had contact with anyone else," I sighed. "What about you?"

"I was never really close with my dad," Daryl said. "He always beat me and my brother. My brother's dead now. He got into a knife fight in an alley next to a bar. My mom died a while back. Carol's been kind to me, and Sophia is like my little sister."

I stopped walking and faced Daryl. I grabbed his arm.

"I'm sorry," I told him. "Did you beat me when I was young? Did you get drunk and get yourself killed? No. You have nothing to be sorry for," Daryl said.

"I know, it's just… I feel bad that you went through all that and now the world is ending. I just wish you had a chance to have a better life, that's all."

Daryl laughed. "I love my life."

"Why? We're in so much danger now. Aren't you scared?"

Daryl slid his arms around my waist. My breath quickened as we gazed into each other's eyes.

"You're right, I am scared," he murmured. "I'm scared of losing you."

I put my hand on the side of Daryl's face. Standing on my tip-toes, I was still a few inches shorter than him. Daryl closed the small space between us when he pulled me closer. Our lips touched and I suddenly forgot about the terrors of the world. All I cared about was having Daryl in my arms.

Daryl finally pulled away. I smiled at him, and he gave me a quick kiss on the forehead.

"So, breakfast," I laughed.

"Right," Daryl said.

He lifted his crossbow and shot a few squirrels. Daryl turned around and killed a few more.

"That was easy," Daryl said. "They shouldn't expect us back to camp for a few minutes. After all, hunting is hard."

I grinned. "I guess it is."

Daryl pulled me close to him and we kissed again. I was comfortable with him, and that didn't happen often. I was star struck that he felt the same way about me as I did about him. The two of us walked back to camp together, smiling. Daryl held one end of the branch we had draped the squirrels over with his left hand and I held the other end with my right. My left hand and Daryl's right were intertwined.

Carol cooked breakfast, and afterward we all told stories of how we had survived so far. No one commented on the fact that me and Daryl's hands had stayed locked together since we left the woods.


	6. Water

"So, you and that Daryl guy?" Tyra asked as we sat with Marissa in my cabin.

"Yeah," I smiled.

"Give me the details, girl!"

The fatter Togami appeared in the doorway. "Am I interrupting something?" he asked.

"Of course not," I said.

Togami 1 reached for Marissa's hand. She stood up and took his and they walked out of the cabin together.

"Let's see what he says to her," Tyra whispered once Marissa had left.

"Don't you like him or something?" I asked her.

Tyra shook her head. "I like the other Togami. I think Marissa likes the fat one better anyways."

I shrugged and we peered out a window to see Togami 1 on his knees.

"It's been a while, and I know you care about my brother too. But… I had to ask," he said.

Tyra and I looked at each other with excitement as Togami 1 opened a small box.

"Will you… Keep this money safe for me if I were to be killed?"

Marissa cried, "Of course I will!"

I gave Tyra a look of confusion while Marissa and Togami 1 hugged.

"The twins are very serious about their money," Tyra finally said after a long silence. "This must mean a lot to Marissa."

We left my cabin to talk to our friend. She seemed very excited, and ran off with both the Togamis to talk, probably about their money. Tyra went to use the bathroom in the cabin, so I waited outside. It was a little cold out, so I slipped Daryl's jacket over my shoulders. I jumped when someone grabbed me from behind.

"Nice jacket," Daryl said.

I laughed and turned around towards him. Right before we were about to kiss, I pulled away and ran off. Daryl followed me into the woods. I looked back after a minute and didn't see Daryl anywhere.

"Daryl?" I asked. "You okay?"

Suddenly, he ran out from behind a tree and grabbed me. We fell down onto the ground, laughing.

When we had caught our breath, I turned my face towards him and saw him looking at me.

"What are you staring at?" I said.

"Absolute perfection," Daryl murmured.

"Oh, stop," I giggled.

We kissed. I heard a rustling sound behind me and pulled back. I gasped. Daryl sensed that something was wrong, so he turned towards where I was looking.

"Damn," Daryl whispered.

There was a herd of about twenty walkers coming down the hill less than a mile away from us. Daryl pulled me up and we ran back to camp.

"Everyone, we need to go, now!" Daryl yelled. "There are walkers heading towards camp!"

"What do you-," Togami 1 started to ask before Marissa interrupted him with a scream. He turned and was face to face with a zombie. It narrowly missed his neck before Daryl shot an arrow through its head. I pulled Togami 1 and Marissa along, as they were both frozen in their spots with terror.

Justin and Maggie rushed out of their cabin, and so did Carol and Sophia, followed by Sean. Marissa and the Togamis crammed into the tiny backseat of the car. Carol drove and Sean and Sophia shared the passenger seat. Justin, Maggie, and Tyra found a truck parked close by. Daryl didn't hesitate to hotwire it so that they could follow us. I sat behind Daryl on his motorcycle, and we were off.

"I'm thirsty!" I heard Sophia whine. "There was water there! And I left my doll!"

Carol yelled, "No, Sophia, we can't go back!"

I looked back to the car and saw Sophia sobbing into Sean's shoulder. My brother looked a little uncomfortable, but he let the girl lean against him.

We drove along for about ten minutes before I heard an ear splitting scream from the small car that Carol, Sophia, Sean, Marissa, and the twins were in. Daryl stopped his bike and we ran back to see what the commotion was about.

Sophia ran away from the road and to a stream nearby. She waded in and started cupping water into her hands. The current quickly pulled her under. Sophia gasped for air and struggled to stay above water.

"Sophia!" Carol cried.

We all ran after her, but Sean got there first. He jumped into the river after the little girl. My brother pulled Sophia over to the bank of the stream. Carol pulled her daughter out, hugging her and demanding that she never do anything like that ever again. I put my jacket aside and knelt down beside the river to reach for my brother.

"Sean, grab my hand. I'll pull you out," I assured him.

My brother took my hand groggily and Daryl helped me pull him out. By that time, Sean was trying to cough up the water he had inhaled. Sean weakly motioned for Daryl to come closer. Daryl put one ear next to Sean's face. I saw my brother whisper something to him. The light was slowly fading from Sean's eyes.


	7. It's Not Okay

I took Sean's hand and said, "It's gonna be okay. You're going to be okay."

Sean shook his head. There seemed to be something lodged in his throat.

"You're choking!" I cried. "I'll help, you'll be okay. I know the Heimlich, don't worry."

I pushed down on my brother's stomach for a few minutes, and finally something appeared at his lips. A fishing hook floated in his bloody mouth.

"Sean! Talk to me!" I sobbed. "Sean!"

I shook him harder and harder, but it was no use. Daryl finally pulled me away and held my shaking body.

"We're staying here for the night," Daryl told the others as he embraced me.

"But it's not safe here," Justin protested.

"We're staying here. It's going to be dark in a few hours anyways. I say we wake up early tomorrow and hit the road. But tonight, we're staying right here," Daryl said firmly.

"What's that down there?" Tyra asked.

"It looks like a housing development of some sorts," Maggie suggested.

"We'll stay there. At least for the night. Justin and Carol will clear one house of walkers and everyone else will stay together," Daryl said.

Daryl picked me up and walked with everyone else to the development. Everything else was a blur to me, but when I figured out what was happening, I was in a queen sized bed in one bedroom in the house we had cleared out. I heard Carol tucking Sophia in down the hall, and I knew that Justin and Maggie were also close by. Daryl's room was directly adjacent to mine, so a door in between the two connected them.

"Sean," I mumbled, turning over in bed.

He wasn't there. I looked around my room for my brother, and when I didn't see him, I decided to see if Daryl knew where he was.

Stumbling out of bed, I walked over to the door to Daryl's room. I opened it, and he was sitting in bed with his head in his hands.

"Daryl," I said, touching his arm.

He looked up at me and nodded.

"I can't find Sean. Do you know where he is?"

Daryl's eyes filled with pain and concern.

"Annie… He's not here," Daryl said.

"What do you mean?" I cried as the events of the last few hours came flooding back into my mind.

Daryl took my hand and led me back into my room.

"I'll stay here until you fall asleep," he assured me.

I cried for what seemed like an hour into my pillow, but Daryl stayed and stroked my forehead the whole time. When I felt like I didn't have any tears left, I reached for Daryl. I hugged him tightly and never intended on letting go. My arms grew tired, and they slipped off of Daryl's back. I collapsed into bed, and the last thing I saw was Daryl's blue eyes looking into mine before I drifted into a deep sleep.


	8. I Really Do

The next few weeks flew by in a blur. We had decided to stay in the housing development, and decided on our own houses. Tyra, Marissa, and the Togamis lived together. Carol and Sophia shared a house, and so did Daryl and I. Maggie had a room on one floor of a house, and Justin had a room on another.

Daryl had buried Sean the next morning, but I couldn't face seeing his body again. When he got back to the development, Daryl told me that he buried Sean easily, but there was some doubt in his eyes. I hadn't asked about it.

I went to sleep every night with Daryl holding my hand, and I had gotten to the point where I would think about my brother whenever I wasn't occupied, but at least I wasn't crying every night. I couldn't say his name out loud, and once when Sophia asked why I was sad, I burst into tears. But I was doing better.

Exactly three and a half weeks after I lost Sean, we were enjoying dinner from the heavily stocked pantry of Carol's house. I heard a knock at the door, so I excused myself to go and answer it. There was a man at the door.

"Hi," he said nervously.

"Uh, hi," I said.

"Hey," Daryl said. He had gotten up from his seat and grabbed my hand to show the stranger that we were together.

"I have a small group with me, and we wanted to ask if we could live here with you. I mean, not in this house, but in the neighborhood," the man said.

"We'll talk about it," Daryl said. "Give us a minute."

The man nodded and closed the door. "There's a group here that wants our help," I said.

"What are they like?" Maggie asked. She only had a small scar on her arm after Carol had found a vet's office down the road. It hadn't been much to work with, but luckily the bullet hadn't gone deep.

"One man came to the door asking if he could live in the development with his group. We don't know anything else," Daryl said.

"Let's have them put their weapons down and we'll all go out and talk to them," Justin suggested.

"That's a great idea, Justin," Maggie said enthusiastically.

She smiled at Justin, and he returned it. I saw his smile linger for a few seconds after she turned away. I sighed. Of course he had a thing for her.

We all agreed that Marissa and the twins would stay inside with Sophia while the rest of us went outside. I heard them begin to discuss money while the rest of us were assembling near the doorway.

"Hey," the man said once we opened the door.

"We want to ask your group to put your weapons down and we'll put ours down, and we can all talk like civilized people," Daryl said.

"Fair enough," another man said.

"What are your names?" Maggie asked, looking at the man who had knocked.

"I'm Glenn," he said.

"Maggie," she replied.

They shook hands and smiled. Glenn couldn't stop looking at Maggie, and it seemed like she wanted to keep looking at him, too.

"I'm Rick," the second man said. "This is Beth and my daughter Judith," he gestured to a teenage girl who looked like she was around sixteen. Beth held a baby in her arms. "This is Hershel and Philip," he motioned to an old man on crutches and a man in his thirties with a long coat. "Here's my son, Carl," Rick said about the boy on his left. "And Andrea and Milton," he said as a blonde woman and a man with glasses smiled at us.

"I'm Daryl, and this is Annie," Daryl said, taking my hand once more. "This is Carol, and her daughter, Sophia, is inside. Here's Tyra, Justin, and Maggie. Marissa and the Togami twins are inside with Sophia."

"How have you been living so far?" Carol asked Rick.

"We had a small group living in an RV in the woods, but when Carl got shot hunting one day, we sought Hershel's help. He's a veterinarian. We ended up staying with him and Beth at their place. After walkers overran the farm, I lost my…" Rick trailed off and cleared his throat. "We lost some of our people. On the road, we met Milton, and then we came here. How about you?"

"Daryl has been close with my daughter and me for a while. When this started, we drove to Sophia's school. Annie was there getting Sean, and she saved Sophia," Carol said.

Daryl looked down into my eyes. Now I was thinking about Sean and what I could've done to save him.

"Excuse us," Daryl said. He pulled me aside and hugged me.

I saw Carol whisper something to Rick before I started crying, and I realized that she was probably talking about how I lost my brother. Daryl held me and stroked my back as I cried.

"We stayed at a campsite for a while, where we met Maggie, Tyra, Marissa, the twins, and Justin. We had to find another place to stay after that because there wasn't enough room for everyone. After a long day on the road, we saw this place. Some of us cleared it out, and we've claimed our own houses," Carol said.

"It looks like a nice place," Rick told her. "If your people would have us, we'd love to stay here."

"Daryl," Carol said.

Daryl turned towards her and nodded. She nodded back before looking back at Rick.

"Anywhere is fine except for these four houses," Carol said, motioning towards our houses. "Make yourselves at home."

"Thank you," Rick replied. "We've very grateful."

I was wiping my eyes when Tyra, Justin, and Maggie went back inside. Carol came over to Daryl and me.

"I'm so sorry, Annie," Carol sympathized. "I know how it feels to lose someone, and it was very inconsiderate of me to bring it up right in front of you."

"Don't worry about it," I told her.

Carol nodded and went into her house to finish dinner with everyone else.

"Can we talk?" Daryl asked. "That is, if dinner can wait another five minutes."

I nodded. Daryl put his arm over my shoulders and looked at me.

"When you lost your brother, I realized how precious life is," Daryl said. "I knew that before this all happened, but it's so much easier now. I could die tomorrow at the hands of another person, a walker, or even nature. And every night after you fall asleep, it's hard for me to leave, because I know that anything could happen. Since the day we first came here, I've wanted to tell you this, but I didn't want to spring it on you when you were still in pain. I know it'll always be sad, but I wanted to wait a little while. And I know that I've felt alone for most of my life so far. But then I met you."

He stopped and smiled at me. I grinned back.

"I've been trying not to push a relationship on you because of what happened, but I figured if I might die any time now, I might as well tell you," Daryl continued.

"I've always wanted to be with you. Since the day that we met, I was awestruck by everything you did and said. And when we kissed… I couldn't believe that you cared about me," I said. "But what's been holding me back is this: Do you care that I'm young? I mean, I know there's an age difference between us, and this certainly would be frowned upon before this all happened."

"I don't care if you're old or young," Daryl assured me. "All I care about is being with you. So if anything happens to either of us, I just needed to tell you…"

His gaze was intense. I knew that this was something important.

"I love you, Annie," Daryl said. "That's all I know, and that's all I care about."

"Oh, Daryl," I sighed. "I love you, too."

"You do?" he laughed.

"I really do," I said.

I kissed him for the longest we had ever kissed before. Daryl kissed me back, and I knew then that we really loved each other. No matter what happened. I heard someone clear their throat and I pulled back. I realized I was in Daryl's lap with my arms around his neck. Carol stood in the doorway of her house. Embarrassed, I jumped up. Daryl stood with me.

"If you two don't mind, your dinners are getting cold," Carol told us.

"Let's go in, Annie," Daryl said to me. I followed him inside. Carol winked at me as I walked by.

I blushed and murmured, "Sorry about that."

Carol shook her head. "There's nothing to be sorry about," she whispered. "You make him happy. That's all I care about."

The three of us then sat down at the table to finish our meals.

After we were finished, Daryl and I walked back to our house hand in hand.


	9. Infection

"Bitch!" Tyra screamed as she sunk a metal pole into a zombie's head.

"Tyra, calm down," I tried to soothe her.

"Why should I calm down?! The world is over and the man I love is gone!"

I reached for my friend, and when she stopped resisting, I hugged her. Tyra gave up and sobbed heavily as we hugged each other.

**20 minutes before…**

"I don't get why we all needed to come," Marissa huffed.

"We told you, there's sure to be danger here in the woods and we need all the help we can get," I reminded her.

"I could've stayed with Sophia. I'm sure Carol's a better fighter, anyways."

"Carol has more to lose," I said. "If she had come, she couldn't have promised Sophia that she'd come back. Hershel and Carol are also good doctors, so if anyone gets hurt, they'll be ready."

"So you're saying that you'd rather lose me than Carol?" Marissa cried.

"No, that's not what I meant. I just…"

Marissa walked off before I could finish.

"You sure this was a good idea?" Glenn asked Daryl.

"Of course," Daryl said. "We need to make sure that this area is safe for everyone."

Daryl looked over at me. Glenn followed his gaze and then nodded; understanding at last what was going on.

"So here's what I was thinking," Rick told the group. "Daryl and Annie will go north; Tyra, Marissa, and the twins will go east; Glenn, Maggie, and I will go west; Milton, Andrea, and Philip can go south."

"Sounds like a good plan," Daryl said.

Everyone split up and walked off in opposite ways. We were all armed with metal objects except for Daryl, who of course had his crossbow.

Daryl and I hadn't gone far after killing the two walkers we found when we heard a scream.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Andrea, maybe," Daryl replied.

We ran the opposite way until we came to a fork in the path.

"We came from there," I said, pointing directly in front of me. "But the screams came from the right."

The two of us took the path on the right without hesitation. I ran right into a walker. I screamed, and Daryl drove an arrow through its head immediately.

"Thanks," I gasped.

"Don't worry about it," Daryl smiled.

We stood there for a moment, looking at each other. Another scream pierced the silence, and I jumped. Daryl and I continued running. When we got to the clearing, we couldn't believe our eyes.

"We heard a scream, so we tried to find where it was coming from," Marissa told me. We ended up here, but the screams also attracted the walkers, so I-," Marissa screamed when a zombie grabbed her hair and pulled her back.

The walker was on top of her in seconds. She screamed and cried, but she couldn't move the undead off of her. Maggie and Glenn started stabbing the walker's head and shoving it off of Marissa. Tyra and I stood still, in absolute shock.

At last the zombie was unmoving on the ground next to our dying friend. Marissa's stomach was torn open by the zombie; her intestines hung out of her body. The Togami twins fell on their knees next to Marissa. One of them handed her a can of Coca Cola.

"Thanks, boys," Marissa choked. "I've always wanted to die with a Coke in my hand."

"You're going to be okay… We'll fix you up…" The fatter one of the twins assured her.

"Remember that amazing ice cream I had at lunch that day?" Marissa asked Tyra and me.

We nodded.

"Remember what I said about that ice cream?"

We nodded again.

"Eat that ice cream in remembrance of me," Marissa whispered.

"But we… I…" Tyra stammered.

I knew how she felt. Neither of us understood what to say. We weren't prepared to lose Marissa. Our friend gasped her last breath and breathed out slowly. Marissa lay on the ground, unmoving. The twins took all of their money out of their pockets and put it on Marissa's body. Without her, they didn't want to be rich anymore.

"Let's go back," Rick said after a moment. "We can come back to get her and bury her later."

We all agreed and started walking back home. Tyra, the twins, and I dragged our feet as we sniffled.

We were almost back to the development when I heard shuffling behind us. Tyra must've heard it too, because she whipped around at the same time I did. The two of us screamed as we came face to face with at least twenty walkers.

The group all turned around and started fighting the herd. We got separated into pairs so that none of us would be trapped alone. Unfortunately, both of the twins were turned one way to fight off a zombie when four or five came up behind them. The boys yelled as they were eaten alive. Tyra watched it happen. She ran over to the zombies with tears in her eyes and rage in her heart.

"Bitch!" Tyra screamed as she sunk a metal pole into a zombie's head.

She easily took out the rest of them. The last I recognized as a kid from our school. He was an upperclassman, so I didn't know him, but I had seen him around. The kid wore a New York Yankees snapback and the typical teen boys' outfit.

"Tyra, calm down," I tried to soothe her.

"Why should I calm down?! The world is over and the man I love is gone!"

I reached for my friend, and when she stopped resisting, I hugged her. Tyra gave up and sobbed heavily as we hugged each other.

"Guys…" Glenn said.

"What is it?" Maggie asked.

We all followed his gaze to a lone walker standing in the clearing. It shuffled towards us and had a huge wound on its stomach. It held a can of Coke in its hand.

"Marissa?" I asked.

Daryl stood in front of Tyra and me. "She's a walker. Don't go near her."

Glenn stepped forward and drove a pole through Marissa's head.

"But she wasn't bitten!" Tyra cried.

"It's not the bite," Daryl said. He sighed. "Annie, when I went to bury your brother, he was gone. I tracked him and found him as a zombie. He was never bitten."

"What the hell?" Rick muttered. "How is that possible?"

"I didn't know if Sean had possibly gotten the bite and not told us, but now that I see Marissa… It must be true. I've been thinking about it for a while," Daryl told us.

"Thinking about what?" I asked.

"If you don't need a bite, that means that no matter how you die, you come back," Daryl explained. "So that means… We're all infected."


	10. Justin's Justice

"What?" I asked.

"We're all infected," Daryl repeated. "So that means that when we die, we all come back."

"Unless the brain is destroyed, which is how the zombies are killed," Glenn said, catching on.

"Exactly," Daryl replied.

"How do we avoid this?" Maggie asked.

"We don't," Rick confirmed. "We're all going to come back unless someone shoots us in the head before we do."

We headed back to the development to tell Carol, Hershel, and Justin about our discovery.

I opened the door to Carol's house. There was a deck of cards on the table. I didn't see anyone around.

"Carol?" I called. "Is everything alright?"

I heard sobbing from the bedroom. I ran down the hall and saw Carol holding Sophia, crying. Hershel sat on a chair in the corner, shaking his head. Justin was lying in a pool of blood on the ground.

"What happened?" I gasped.

"He… He… Sophia… Oh God," Carol sobbed harder.

I turned to Hershel, hoping that he could give me an explanation.

"Carol and I were playing cards while Justin helped Sophia find some toys. I heard a scream, so I went to go see what it was. Carol had just excused herself to go to the bathroom, so I went alone," Hershel told me. "Justin was… being too friendly with Sophia, and when I came in, she was crying. I told Justin to stop, and that's when Carol came to find me. She realized what Justin had been doing, so she attacked him. They struggled for a while, and when Justin was at the advantage, I shot him."

"Where was he shot?" I asked. "Is he alive?"

"I shot him in the arm, so he's alive. I thought the group could decide what to do with him."

"Daryl!" I yelled.

He rushed into the room.

"What the hell happened here?" Daryl spat.

Hershel explained what had happened to Daryl. As the story went on, Daryl's eyes filled with more and more rage.

"That sick son of a bitch!" Daryl roared. "We shouldn't have trusted him!"

"What should we do?" I asked.

"I have a lot of things in mind for him," Daryl seethed.

"Let him go," Sophia whimpered.

"What?" Carol cried. "After what he tried to do?"

"Let him go," Sophia insisted. "He won't make it on his own."

"No way. No way. We kill him," Daryl said softly.

"We need to bring the group together to talk about this," Hershel suggested.

I nodded. "Spread the word."

Ten minutes later, everyone was in what was now the meeting room. It was a hall in the biggest house in the development. When we had first found the place, we agreed to use it for business only, so there would be no disputes about who got to live there.

"Is everyone here?" Rick asked.

Rick, Daryl, and I stood on the platform in front of the bay window. Carol sat in a big armchair in the corner with Sophia in her lap. Hershel had pulled over a stool from the kitchen to sit next to the girls and comfort them. Andrea, Milton, and Philip sat on the couch. Philip had his hand over Andrea's, so it was obvious that they were together. Milton looked at them with pain in his eyes, but gave anyone who noticed a half smile. Carl sat on the floor and looked up with interest at the three of us. Beth sat in a rocking chair holding Judith. Justin was locked in the nearby closet. He was unconscious, but furniture had been pushed against the door as a precaution.

"Tyra isn't here," I said.

I realized that I hadn't seen Tyra since we had gotten back from the woods. I knew she must've been upset about Marissa, since the two of them had been very close. I excused myself from the meeting and walked down the sidewalk to Tyra's house that, up until today, she had shared with Marissa and the twins.

"Tyra?" I called after no one answered my knock. "Are you home?"

I pushed the door open and looked around. I didn't see my friend anywhere. After walking up the stairs, I heard sobs coming from down the hallway to the left. I found my friend lying face down on her bed. I sat down next to Tyra and patted her back.

"I know it's hard, and I'm sorry. Marissa was my friend, too, but I know that you guys were really close," I told her. "If you need to talk about anything, I'm here."

"Okay," Tyra mumbled weakly.

"Do you want to move in with Daryl and me?" I asked her.

"I'll get my stuff," she said.

I nodded and waited for her to gather her things together. When she was ready, we left the house together and walked towards the meeting hall.

"We can start now," I told Rick.

"Hershel, can you please explain to the group what happened earlier?" Rick asked.

The old man told the story yet again. There were gasps from the group when various details were shared.

"What should we do?" Daryl told everyone.

"We can vote to either let him go and take his chances on his own, kill him ourselves, or do nothing," Rick said.

"Let's get rid of the obvious option. All in favor of doing nothing?" I asked.

No hands were raised. No one even moved.

"All in favor of letting him take his chances?" Rick said.

Sophia, Andrea, Hershel, and Beth raised their hands. Milton saw Andrea's raised hand and put his up with hers.

"And all in favor of killing him?" Daryl asked, already knowing what the answer would be.

Rick, Daryl, and I raised our hands after Glenn, Maggie, Carol, Tyra, and Carl voted for killing him.

"It's settled, then," Rick announced. "We'll kill him tomorrow in the small house on the other corner. You can all return to your days."


	11. The Trail

After the meeting, I took Tyra back to the place that I shared with Daryl. We were about to open the door when a single gunshot rand through the air. Tyra and I stopped and looked at each other. She dropped her stuff at the door and we ran towards the noise.

Rick was on the ground and in obvious pain. There was no one with a gun around, but Daryl was by his side.

"What happened, Rick?" Daryl asked.

"I… My gun…" Rick slurred.

He held his right shoulder with his left hand, and it was obvious that someone had shot him at close range.

"I'll get Carol," Tyra stammered as she took off towards Carol's house.

"My… He took my gun…" Rick moaned.

"Who shot you?" I persisted.

"He took Beth and… Oh God, she… she had Judith… What did I…"

"Rick, you're going to be okay. Tell us who shot you and where he went and we'll find him."

Rick closed his eyes.

"Stay with us, Rick!" Daryl demanded.

Tyra came back with Carol, who assessed that it wouldn't be safe to bring Rick back to her house. She operated on him right away, removing the bullet and giving him some blood. Carol wrapped Rick's shoulder up and promised us that she'd check on it daily.

"Will that blood match his blood type?" Tyra asked.

"Hershel has type O blood, so he can give to anyone. He's back at the house with Sophia," Carol replied.

We all waited nervously for fifteen minutes or so, and then Rick's eyelids finally fluttered back open.

"I need help carrying him back to his place," Carol told us. "He needs rest."

I grabbed Rick's feet, Tyra held his head, Carol supported his shoulder, and Daryl held under Rick's back. We brought him to his home and put him on the couch.

"Rick, we know you need rest, but we need to know who shot you," I said.

"Carl," Rick whispered. "It was Carl. He took Beth and Judith. I don't know what happened."

"Carl did this?" I asked. "You're sure?"

"Annie," Rick said. His eyes were stone hard as he looked at me. "It was Carl. It was my son."

I nodded to Daryl. "We need to find him."

Daryl and I spent weeks tracking Carl, but we never found him. We had killed Justin without complications. Sophia had been doing better than before. Around a month and a half after Carl had disappeared with Beth and Judith, Rick held a meeting.

"Listen, I know you all have done the math. Even though Carl grabbed some formula for Judith, he still would have to provide for him and Beth. We can only hope that they're all alright. And believe me when I say that there will be serious punishments for Carl when we find him," Rick said. "I know that Carol is worried about my wound reopening, but I need to be out there. Daryl and Annie have picked up a something."

Daryl grabbed my hand and we took out places next to Rick.

"We have a trail that's a couple days old, so if everyone helps, we can find them quicker," Daryl said.

"Everyone who is able to go with us can," I added. "We're leaving early tomorrow; it's too dark now to go."

The group cleared out, discussing who would be going and who would stay.

Daryl and I headed back to our house alone. Tyra had been staying at Carol's house after Sophia had taken a liking to her.

I got changed into one of Daryl's shirts, which I used as pajamas. It went down to about mid thigh and the shoulder seams rested on my upper arms. Walking into the room we now shared, I sat down on my side of the bed. Daryl came in as he was taking his shirt off. He tossed it to the side and sat down next to me.

"Your scars," I gasped as I ran a hand down his back.

"What about them?" Daryl asked.

"How did you get them? They're terrible."

"My dad used to beat me when I was younger."

"Daryl, I'm sorry," I said.

"Don't worry about it," he shrugged.

"They make you look tough," I told him after a moment.

"Oh, and I'm not already tough enough?" Daryl asked, feigning hurt.

"You're harmless," I laughed.

Daryl kissed me, pushing me down on the bed. I wiggled out of his grasp and crawled under the covers. Daryl slid into bed next to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"I love you," he said.

"Love you, too," I replied.

We both drifted off to sleep, ready to wake up early the next morning.


	12. Because of You

**Author's Note:**

**Thank you all for your reviews. Don't worry, this isn't over yet. I just wanted to say thanks for reading and supporting me even though I'm not as frequent with chapter uploads as I'd like to be. Enjoy chapter 12 :)**

Carl held the gun to Daryl's head.

"Don't, Carl, please!" I screamed as tears flooded down my cheeks. "We can work something out! Just don't hurt him!"

"Annie," Daryl whispered.

I looked into his desperate eyes that told me he knew what would happen. I returned his look with a frantic gaze as if to say that we could work something out with Carl and everything would be okay.

Daryl held my gaze as he said, "I love you. I've loved you since-,"

He was cut off by the gunshot that rang through the air. Daryl fell to the ground with a thud and I collapsed with him. I crawled over to him and put my head on his chest as I cried. I heard the gun cock again. I swallowed my fear and Carl pulled the trigger.

"What's wrong?!" Daryl cried as he gently shook me.

My eyes blinked open and I realized that I was still in the bedroom with Daryl. It was all a dream. I tackled Daryl and wrapped him in a big bear hug.

"What happened? Are you okay?" he asked.

"I had a dream that Carl killed you," I choked.

"It's okay. It was a dream. There's nothing to worry about."

"I know. It was just… It was scary."

"You don't need to come today, you know," Daryl assured me.

"Are you shitting me?" I asked, pulling away. "Of course I'm going!"

"When did you get a dirty mouth?" Daryl laughed.

I flung a pillow at him and went to get dressed.

Half an hour later, everyone who was going met at the entrance to the development. Not counting Daryl and me, there were six other people coming. Rick, Glenn, Maggie, Andrea, Tyra, and Philip were ready to come along, and Carol, Hershel, and Milton had agreed to hold down the fort and watch Sophia.

"So let's split into groups of four," Rick said.

"Can we choose our groups?" Glenn asked.

Maggie shushed him and took his hand.

"Annie and I will take Rick and Tyra," Daryl told them. "Maggie, Glenn, Philip, and Andrea will go the opposite direction."

"Remember, we're all coming back here in about two hours," Rick reminded everyone. "If a group isn't back by then, send a search party."

"Do we have any idea where Carl could be?" Rick asked us.

"No clue," I said as Daryl shook his head.

"Last week I heard him talking about an old cabin he found," Tyra told us.

"Did he say where it was?" I asked.

"I've been there."

"What?" Rick asked.

"Carl brought me there. He packed a picnic. It wasn't exactly romantic or anything, but it was a cute gesture," Tyra said sheepishly.

"I would approve, but considering he's now a kidnapper…" Rick trailed off.

Tyra waved him off, understanding. "Carl's like a brother to me."

"Did anything happen between you two that could've made him lose it and run off?" Daryl mentioned.

"I told him that I didn't want to go to the cabin anymore because it was creepy and I didn't like him that way. Carl must've taken offense or something," Tyra explained. "I wasn't mean about it. I guess he just… snapped."

"Hey, it could have happened to any one of us," I said when I saw Rick's face fall. "Don't worry about it."

Rick nodded and we kept walking. Tyra led the way to the cabin. Within fifteen minutes or so, we were there.

Daryl put a finger to his lips and raised his crossbow. Rick had his gun and stood in front of Tyra while I stood behind Daryl, ready to run if I needed to.

"Carl?" Rick called.

The door slowly creaked open. Behind it was Carl, who stepped out with his gun cocked.

"Get your hoe ass out here," Carl told the figure behind him.

Beth shakily stepped outside with Judith in her arms. When she saw us, her face lit up.

"Rick!" Beth screamed. "Thank God!"

"Make one move and I'll blow your brains out," Carl threatened her.

Beth stepped back a step. Judith was still in her arms.

"Have you hurt them, Carl?" Rick asked.

"Judith's dead," Carl said flatly. "She stopped eating."

Rick fell to his knees with grief.

"She was… She wa-was all I ha-had left of L-L-Lori… Carl… How…" Rick sobbed.

"Carl, here's what we're going to do," I spoke. "We're all going to peacefully go home and stay there. Beth will get medical attention and Judith will have a funeral."

"The two of us are staying here," Carl said. "She wouldn't have me," he gestured to Tyra, "So I'll have Beth. You all need to go and never come back."

Rick raised his gun and pointed it at Carl's head. He fired a single shot. The sheriff's hat flew off and into the cabin.

"You don't deserve to wear that hat," Rick murmured. "You're not my son."

"What do I care? I never wanted to be your fucking son to begin with!" Carl yelled. "You can't keep anyone safe and these people aren't any different!"

"Carl, calm down," Daryl told him.

"I'm sorry," Tyra whispered.

"Sorry doesn't fix nothing," Carl told Tyra.

After a moment, Carl said, "You know what? If I can't have anyone or be happy, then why do you get to be happy?"

He looked at Daryl and me. I looked down and realized that I had grabbed Daryl's hand when Rick had fired his gun.

"I'll shoot you," Daryl said. "I will. Come back with us and don't do any more shit you'll regret."

Carl grinned. "I never even wanted to join this group. I never even wanted to live with you. And you two are always together every day. Every goddamn day. Of course when I try to do that with Tyra, she rejects me. So you know what? Maybe it's all because of you two."

Daryl aimed his crossbow at Carl's chest. "Don't think I won't kill you if you threaten her."

"Carl, please," I whimpered.

"That's sweet," Carl smirked. He pointed his gun at me and squeezed the trigger.

I felt the pain before I realized what was happening. My chest got hot and I realized that I was dripping blood on to the group. I collapsed with a thud. Just before I closed my eyes, I saw Daryl running at Carl.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Daryl screamed at he attacked the boy.

Daryl. He was all I could think about as I was fading. I opened my mouth to tell him that I loved him, but before I could say anything, my eyes snapped shut. I thought of Daryl again. I thought of his scars. I thought about spending nights laughing with him.

Daryl. I knew I would miss him.


	13. Eyes

My eyes snapped open. People were leaning over me. I couldn't see who they were; everything was a blur. I could hear Daryl sobbing. I felt myself slipping again.

"It's all luck now," Carol whispered. "I've done all I can do. It's up to her now."

I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn't fight the sleepiness. I felt someone's hand take mine. I wanted to say something to Daryl, anything to let him know I was there, but I couldn't. The pain killers were too strong and I was too weak.

"Annie," Daryl choked. "Annie, if you can hear me, please don't go. You know I love you, and I know you love me, but you changed me for the better. Before you, I couldn't love anyone because I thought of girlfriends as women who would come and go. And I knew I would get over them when they didn't really mean a lot to me. But I can't lose you. I don't know what I would do without you."

I squeezed Daryl's hand to tell him that I loved him too. He started crying again and held my hand tighter. I faded again.

After what felt like a long time, I awoke suddenly. My eyes opened and my senses were sharp again. I looked to the right of my bed and saw Daryl with his head on my leg. I smiled and was about to wake him up when Carol walked in.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so glad you're awake!" Carol cried. "Are you feeling any pain?"

"Not really," I said. My voice sounded awkward so I cleared my throat.

"He's been with you the whole time," Carol told me, looking at Daryl.

"How long was I out?"

"A week," Carol said. "We went on a run to a hospital for supplies and gave you fluids so you wouldn't starve. Removing the bullet was successful. You'll have a scar on your right breast, but nothing major."

"Thank you, Carol."

Carol was about to reply, but Daryl stirred and she winked at me and left.

"Daryl?" I whispered. "You awake?"

He turned his head and looked at me. When Daryl saw me sitting up and looking at him, he jumped up and grabbed me. Daryl pulled me into his arms and I hugged him as tightly as I could.

Leaning back, Daryl said, "I don't want to hurt you. You're recovering."

"Shut up," I told him.

I pulled his face to mine and kissed him. Daryl put his hand on my back and pushed me against him. I hadn't realized how much I had missed him until I was with him again.

Later we sat on the bed together with our fingers intertwined.

"I don't know if you heard me, but while you were out, I was-," Daryl started.

"I heard," I said. "You were saying how much you love me and how I'm your life."

"Well, it's true."

"I know. I love you, too."

"I stayed with you because I didn't want to miss it when you woke up. I wanted to be the first person you saw, but I fell asleep and wrecked the moment," Daryl laughed.

"You barely got any sleep all week," I reassured him. "I'm sure you needed to rest."

"I missed your eyes," Daryl said suddenly.

"What?"

"Your eyes. They're so green and so perfect and so full of joy and life."

"Thanks," I grinned.

"I only left this room once," Daryl told me. "I went into the city because I wanted to get you something for when you woke up."

"You didn't have to get me anything," I protested.

"You mentioned that your birthday was coming up," Daryl said pointedly.

"Yeah, but its fine."

Carol came into the room as Daryl was about to reach into his pocket.

"I'm going to have to separate you two if you don't get some sleep," she teased. "It's late and Daryl's hardly slept all week."

"This will just take a second," Daryl said.

"Go," I told him. "Get some rest. I'll be right here in the morning."

"I need to check on Annie's wound anyways," Carol addressed Daryl. "She'll be here in the morning."

I gave Daryl a kiss before he stood up to go.

"I love you," I said.

"Love you, too," he replied as he left.

"So is it really your birthday?" Carol asked.

"It's close," I told her.

"Let's take a look at how your stitches are doing," Carol said.

I pulled down the neckline of my shirt and she removed the bandage.

"No signs of infection. We should be able to cut the stitches in a few days," Carol assessed.

I nodded and she left. I pulled the bed sheets around me and fell asleep within minutes.

When I woke up in the morning, I yawned and sat up in. Daryl was already in the room and he had pulled a chair over to the left of the bed.

"Good morning," Daryl greeted me.

"It is now that you're here," I told him.

"And it's about to get a whole lot better."

"What'd you do?" I asked suspiciously.

"Close your eyes. I'm going to give you something," Daryl said.

I closed my eyes. I felt Daryl take my hand. When I opened them, he had both of his hands covering my hand. Daryl moved his hands and underneath them a ring that matched my eyes was on my finger.

"I know the world has gone to shit, but what the hell?" he said. "Will you marry me?"


	14. Rick's Talk

**Author's Note:**

**I apologize for not being able to write in a while! I have finals in school but I only have two left to take on the 14****th**** and the 17****th****. I get out on the 19****th****, so then I should be able to write more often.**

"Yes! Of course, Daryl!" I cried.

"You don't mind getting married at thirteen?" Carol asked, leaning against the door frame.

Daryl and I looked over at her and then at each other.

"Fourteen," Daryl corrected.

"We're living in a constant hell, day after day," I told Carol. "Don't you think it'd be good for all of us to have a little joy in our lives?"

Carol shrugged and left the room.

"I love you," Daryl said.

"I love you, too," I responded.

Daryl took my face in his hands and kissed me. It took me back to the day in the woods when we had kissed the first time. I remembered how alive I'd felt since I'd been with Daryl. He pulled me into his lap and I wrapped my legs around him. I could feel Daryl's hand on my back, slowly sliding up my shirt.

"Um, guys?" Rick asked.

Daryl and I pulled away from each other to look at Rick.

"If you're not busy, we need to make a decision on Carl."

"Oh, yeah, Carl," I said, avoiding Rick's gaze.

"Daryl, can you go ahead and let me talk to Annie for a second?" Rick asked him.

Daryl nodded, gave me a kiss, and left the room.

"What's up, Rick?" I addressed him.

"I know we don't really know a lot about each other, but I wanted to tell you how my wife died," Rick said.

"You don't have to," I assured him. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable or upset."

"I'll be alright. As you know, we had Judith, and we found out Lori was pregnant while we were staying at Hershel's. I've already told you that walkers overran the farm, but you don't know about what happened afterwards. We had an RV that we used on the road until it broke down. One night, we found an abandoned motel to stay at. Lori woke me up a few hours after we had fallen asleep to tell me that she was having her baby. I got Hershel, but after a while, it was clear that something was wrong. The baby wasn't being born despite Lori having contractions through the night. She begged Hershel to cut Judith out, even though she knew it would kill her. Carl and I were with her when she died."

"Wow Rick," I exclaimed. "I'm so sorry. But if you don't mind me asking, why exactly are you telling me this?"

"I… When I…" Rick stammered. "Look, when I came in, I saw that you and Daryl were kissing. A lot. And I just want to make sure…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop right there. Are you trying to give me 'the talk'?"

"I just… Lori got pregnant and she died. It was my fault and I'm never going to be able to forgive myself for it. I just want to make sure you're not… making any bad decisions."

"Not that it's any of your business, but we haven't," I said.

"Good. I'm not trying to boss you around or anything, but you are thirteen," Rick reminded me.

"I'm pretty sure I've already turned fourteen or my birthday is soon."

"Still, there's five to six years between you two, and our former society wouldn't allow this," Rick protested.

"How old was Lori?" I asked.

"Thirty-five."

"And how old are you?"

"Forty-two."

"That's seven years," I said, getting up. "I get that you're concerned, but we're fine. So unless there's anything else, our presence is needed at the meeting about your son."

"Yeah," Rick murmured.

We walked to the meeting hall together where everyone was gathered. I sat next to Daryl, who was in the front of the group.

"Everything okay?" Daryl asked, looking between Rick and me.

"Yeah, it's fine. I'll tell you about it later," I whispered, taking his hand and shooting a glance at Rick.

Rick noticed and cleared his throat. I leaned against Daryl and put my head on his shoulder.

"Everyone, we have gathered today to discuss the fate of my son, Carl," Rick announced. "As you all know, he kidnapped Beth and caused the death of Judith. Carl is now unconscious in the closet, which Maggie and Glenn are guarding. Any ideas on how to handle this?"

"We can't kill him," Tyra said.

"Why not?" Glenn asked.

"I was the one who turned him down and got him upset. It's my fault he reacted and took Beth."

"Don't blame yourself, Tyra," Rick assured her. "But I don't think I could kill my own son, or stand by while someone else killed him, no matter what he did."

"We could drive him far away and leave him without a gun," Beth whispered hoarsely.

"Then we wouldn't have to kill him, but we wouldn't have to keep him prisoner," Maggie, who was like a sister to Beth, said, putting her hand on Beth's shoulder.

"Do we all agree with Beth's idea?" Rick asked the group.

Everyone nodded and no one spoke against it.

"Alright, then. Tomorrow morning a few of us will take Carl out in a car. He'll be blindfolded and we'll leave him without food, water, or any weapons."

Later that night, Daryl and I sat in bed.

"So what did Rick have to say to you?" Daryl wondered.

"He told me that his wife died because something went wrong while she was having Judith, and that he felt guilty for getting her pregnant in the first place," I said.

"What does that have to do with you?"

"Rick wanted to make sure we weren't… That we hadn't had sex."

"It was my fault, anyway," Daryl sighed. "I left the door open and I was the one who made it look like we were going to."

"Well, weren't we?" I asked.

"I thought so, but then Rick came in."

"It's kind of good he did," I said quietly after a moment.

"What?" Daryl asked, taking offense.

"No, I mean we're getting married, aren't we? So what's the rush?"

"Yeah, you're right," he said.

"Goodnight," I told him. "Love you."

"I love you."

I leaned over in bed to give Daryl a kiss on the cheek. He pulled me close and hugged me. I fell asleep with my head against Daryl's shoulder and his arm around me.


	15. Melanie

The next morning, I woke up before Daryl. He slept soundly beside me, so I gave him a kiss on the cheek and got out of bed. I walked down the hall and entered the first room on the left, which was Tyra's. She was sitting up in bed reading something.

"What are you reading?" I asked, sitting down on her bed next to her.

"Oh, just that dumb story we wrote in like fourth grade," Tyra laughed.

"The one about the birds?"

She nodded, smiling, and then her expression turned serious as she said, "We were so stupid to think that a rocky friendship was the worst possible thing that could happen to us. I mean, look around. People are dying terrible deaths every day, not peacefully of old age as they should. We have no idea what's going to happen. And we have no idea how to cure this disease, or whatever it is. All we know is that everyone comes back as a zombie, and the only way to kill them is by shooting them in the head."

"Hey, we'll get there, okay?" I told her, trying to be optimistic. "We're still alive, and we're fighting every day. It'll be alright. We just have to survive."

"Jesus, I'm such a downer. Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it."

After a moment, Tyra said, "So, how's Daryl?"

"He's good," I replied. "He's still asleep."

Tyra raised her eyebrows at me. I elbowed her.

"Shut up! I'm gonna go wake him up. See you," I said as I left the room.

Going back into the room I shared with Daryl, I saw that he was still sleeping in the exact same position I had left him in. I was about to shake him and wake him up, but I heard him mumble something.

"Daryl?" I asked.

"Melanie," he murmured.

"Who?" I cried.

"We're safe, it's okay."

"Daryl, wake up!"

I shook him hard and he opened his eyes.

"Good morning, hon," Daryl said sleepily. He tried to kiss me but I pulled away. "What's wrong?"

"Who's Melanie?" I asked.

"Melanie?" he said, confused.

"You were saying her name in your sleep."

"Rick needs my help on a supply run," Daryl said, getting up and pulling a shirt on.

"Answer my question, Daryl," I told him.

"Can't we talk about this later? I'm already late."

Daryl headed down the stairs and out the door. I changed into clothes and ran after him. I caught Daryl before he was about to go through the gate after Rick.

Grabbing his arm, I demanded, "Who is Melanie?"

"Let's talk later, Annie, okay? I have to leave," Daryl sighed.

"Why can't you tell me why you were saying another girl's name in your sleep?"

"Oh, so that's what this is about?" Daryl raised his voice. "You're jealous."

"Considering we're engaged, don't you think I should know who this girl is that you care enough about that you're dreaming about her?" I yelled.

"Melanie was Sophia's friend!" Daryl shouted. "She was staying with me because she was sick and Carol had work to do! When this whole thing started, I ran to get her from her room and she was gone! She was in the street, and I tried to save her, but she ran out into the road and she got eaten! Is that enough of an answer for you? Melanie was a little girl who never did anything wrong and she died because I wasn't there!"

"Daryl," I whispered.

I tried to take his hand, but his eyes were full of hurt and anger. Daryl pulled away and left with Rick.

"Wait!" I called after them.

Glenn closed the gate behind the two men, and I looked at him pleadingly.

"Glenn, open the gate, please," I begged.

"I can't," he replied. "I have strict orders from Rick not to open the gate until he get back with Daryl. I'm sorry."

"Like hell you are," I spat.

I crossed over to the other side of the gate, away from Glenn. I sat down and decided to wait for Daryl to come back. I spent a few hours coming up with my apology. What did I say? "Daryl, I'm sorry I accused you of keeping a relationship from me when it was really a girl who died"?

When I heard footsteps, I opened my eyes. I had been leaning my head against the gate, but I quickly got up. I saw Rick running back alone with blood on his shirt.

"Where's Daryl?!" I screamed.

"He… His crossbow… It got jammed and he… He fired an arrow at himself… It hit him in the chest…" Rick panted.

"Get Carol!" I yelled to Glenn.

He nodded and sprinted towards Carol's house. Glenn returned in a matter of minutes with Carol not far behind. He opened the gate, and Carol and I rushed out. We followed Rick to where Daryl was lying on the ground.


	16. Vows

I knelt beside him and held his hand. Rick cut off Daryl's shirt while Carol got her supplies ready.

"Annie," Daryl whispered.

"Don't try to talk," I told him.

"If I die…"

"Don't say that."

"I… I'm sorry."

"I'm the one who should be sorry," I told him. "I was the one who pushed you to tell me about Melanie. It was obviously painful and I regret it."

"I'm removing the arrow now," Carol said. "Try to be quiet and keep still. We don't want to attract any walkers. One… two… three!"

She ripped the arrow out of Daryl's chest while Rick shoved Daryl's shirt into his mouth to stifle his yells. Carol pressed bandages on the wound to stop the bleeding.

"Rick," Daryl coughed. "Can I ask a favor?"

"Anything," Rick said with tears in his eyes.

"I might… I might not make it out of this. Can you promise that you'll give me a funeral and take care of Annie?"

I sobbed into Daryl's hand as Rick nodded.

"And can… Can I ask something else?" Daryl breathed. "Can you give us a marriage ceremony?"

"Right now?" Rick asked.

"Yeah," Daryl nodded.

"You're not gonna… You're not… You're not dying," I choked.

"Daryl, do you have anything you wanna, um, say? Like vows or something?" Rick asked.

Daryl nodded. His blue eyes held mine as he said, "Annie, I've cared about you ever since I first saw you that day at the school. I know I can be hard to deal with and shit, but I fucking love you. That's all I've ever known, and that's all I need to know."

"Annie?" Rick said to me.

"Uh…" I sniffled and took a deep breath. "I've never been in love before you, Daryl, but when I met you, I knew what love felt like. And I can't live without you, so I'm not letting you. You're staying here with me because I can't imagine life any other way."

"Alright, um…" Rick cleared his throat. "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss."

I leaned over Daryl's face and kissed him. We put everything into that kiss; love, hope, desperation, promises, memories.

"I'm going to stitch you up now, Daryl," Carol told him.

I pulled back and grabbed Daryl's hand again. The three of us watched Carol as she carefully patched up Daryl's chest. When she was finished, she put all of her supplies back into her bag.

"Let's get you home," Rick told Daryl.

We began the slow trip back to the development. Carol and I were on either side of Daryl, supporting him as he walked. Rick carried Daryl's crossbow and the medical bag.

When we got to the gate, Glenn quickly swung it open for us and latched it once everyone was inside. Glenn joined Carol, Rick, and I in getting Daryl into the house and up the stairs to the bedroom. Finally, Daryl sat down on the bed and the others left the two of us alone.

I sat down on the bed next to Daryl. He put his arm around me and I leaned back so we were both laying down.

"Did I ever tell you that I love you?" I asked.

"Did I ever tell you that I love you back?" Daryl replied.

"All the time."

"So we're married now," Daryl said.

"Yeah. We are."

"And you said once we're married..."

"You're hurt," I reminded him.

"What if I told you it'd be worth it?"

"You're insane. You were shot by an arrow and bled a lot. Carol saved you and now that we're back, you want to reopen your wound."

"I won't. I'll be careful. I know how to keep from getting hurt."

"So you're saying you've done this with an injury before?" I asked.

"No. I've never done this before," Daryl said quietly.

"No way. You're a virgin?"

Daryl shoved me playfully. "Don't rub it in."

"You're just such a hunk I thought you would have."

We laughed and after we had caught our breath, Daryl brushed my hair back from my eyes. He kissed me passionately. I quickly pulled away and got off the bed.

Daryl stood up and said, "Annie, I'm sorry. If you really feel that strongly about it, we don't need to. Come back to bed and we'll go to sleep."

"Who said I was against it?" I asked.

"You... You're leaving the room," Daryl said, confused.

"Don't assume anything, Daryl," I grinned as I closed the door.


	17. Compromise

"Knock knock!" Tyra called.

I opened my eyes to see my best friend opening the door to my room. I looked over at Daryl, but he was gone.

"Where's Daryl?" I groaned.

"He's already up and ready to go," Tyra replied.

"Go where?" I asked.

"He had an idea that some of us should go on a supply run. Everyone else is too tired to go or still asleep, so you're coming with Daryl, Rick, and me."

I rolled out of bed and realized that I was completely naked. Tyra threw me some clothes and I got dressed.

"I think we have a lot to talk about," Tyra told me once I was ready.

"What?" I said, hoping to change the subject.

"Hon, you woke up naked. I'm sure Daryl did, too. I can figure it out."

"If Rick finds out…"

"You think I'm gonna tell on you? Come on; let's go before the guys get impatient."

We met Daryl and Rick near the gate. Daryl kissed me on the cheek.

"Sorry I didn't wake you up, Annie. I figured you could use the sleep," Daryl winked.

"You sure you're okay to go out today? You just got hurt yesterday," Rick reminded Daryl.

"I'm fine," Daryl waved him off.

"Alright," Rick shrugged.

"I'll take my motorcycle and someone can take a car," Daryl suggested.

"We should save gas," Tyra said. "We can all fit in one car."

"Tyra's right," I agreed.

Rick climbed into the driver's seat of the truck. Tyra and I climbed on to the flatbed. Daryl sat next to Rick in the front.

"What do you miss the most?" Tyra asked me after a moment of silence.

"Oh, Jesus. I don't know," I replied. "What about you?"

"I actually miss social studies," Tyra laughed.

"And Harrison?" I asked her.

"He was the weirdest teacher and he had terrible grammar, but yeah, I miss him."

"Me too," I confessed. "They… The walkers got him."

Tyra nodded. "He saved all of us by distracting that one that came into his classroom."

"I miss music. I'd even take listening to One Direction now if I could."

"Me too. I miss everything."

"I hope Lizzy's okay," I said, getting teary.

"Did you see her at the school?"

"No. I couldn't find her."

"She's tough, though," Tyra reassured me.

"I know," I said.

The truck pulled into the parking lot of a mall. We all got out and started for the main doors. Tyra, Rick, and I armed ourselves with two pieces of metal. Daryl, of course, had his crossbow.

"Let's split up," Rick said once we got inside. "Tyra and Annie, get clothes. Everyone needs them. Daryl and I will get food."

"Annie, take this radio. I have the other one. Rick found them in the truck. If you need us, you'll be able to let us know," Daryl told me, handing me a small walkie talkie.

Rick and Daryl headed off one way while my friend and I went the other. Tyra and I quickly spotted a clothing store at one end of the mall. We raced down to it and skidded to a stop in front of the entrance. I went first and Tyra followed. We were both prepared for a zombie attack. After sweeping one section of the store, we started looking through the clothes. I grabbed us a few baskets and we silently grabbed clothes left and right for the group.

I spotted a few belts ahead of us and realized that everyone had lost some weight due to rationing our food, so I headed towards them. Someone grabbed me from behind and I fell to the ground.

"Tyra!" I screamed.

A hand clamped over my mouth and I was hit over the head with what felt like the piece of metal I had armed myself with. Everything went black.

I woke up with a throbbing headache in what looked like a dressing room. Looking around, I saw a man sitting in the corner. I tried to jump up and run, but with dismay I realized my hands were tied.

"What do you want?" I said, noticing how weak I sounded.

"This is my store, and it looks like you and your friend are trespassing," the man said.

"What did you do to her?" I yelled.

"Nothing. She's just a bit tied up as of now. Oh, look at that; you're tied up too."

"There is a whole group here with me," I lied. "Once they realize we're in trouble, they'll find us and don't think they'll hesitate in killing you."

The man laughed, "Bring it on. Let me go a step farther by contacting them."

He reached under my shirt and into the waistband of my jeans, pulling out the radio Daryl had given me.

"Hello?" he said into the walkie talkie.

"Who is this?" Rick asked.

"It seems I've ran into your little ginger slut trespassing in my store," the man said.

"Who the fuck is this? I'll kill you if you lay another hand on her!" Daryl cried.

"I don't think you can do anything at this point. Right now I'm showing her where I'm going to use my knife," he said as he ran his knife from my belly button to my neck.

"Listen, there's no reason for you to do this!" Rick shouted. "We can compromise!"

"As a matter of fact, there is something you can do for me," the man told Rick. "Do you, by any chance, know of a man named Philip?"


	18. Rebel

"Philip?" Rick asked. "He's part of our group. What's it to you?"

"That's none of your concern, considering I have two hostages," the man said.

"Who the fuck are you?" I spat.

"Ooh, she's got a mouth on her," he laughed. "Does your boyfriend know that?"

"If you fucking touch my wife again, I will find you and I will break all the bones in your body one by one, you asshole. I'll shoot you in the chest and leave you to fucking bleed out like a piece of shit like you deserves. And you'll want to die, but you'll still suffer until the dead get you. And then you'll be eaten alive," Daryl growled.

I had never heard Daryl so furious, and I knew he would carry out his threat whether the man hurt me again or not.

"Oh, how cute. You two are married? She can't be older than fifteen. Doesn't that make you a pedophile?" the man said sweetly to Daryl.

Daryl started yelling insults and threats so quickly I couldn't keep up. I could hear Rick struggling to restrain Daryl as he yelled, "Alright, bastard. If you want Philip, take him."

Rick whispered, "Are you serious, Daryl? We don't exchange the lives of our people!"

"Are you serious?" Daryl cried, his voice starting to break. "You know how much I love Annie, and how she means the world to me. We don't even know Philip, but if he's involved with a guy like this, I sure as hell don't want him hurting anyone back home. Annie's a big part of the group. And you don't want her back?"

"Daryl, we can't afford to be making decisions like this. We-,"

"So you're telling me that if Lori was alive and in there, you wouldn't mind if I blew her off and defended Philip, a guy we barely know?"

"That's different," Rick murmured.

"How the fuck is that different?" Daryl snapped, his voice rising. "It's the exact same thing as what you're doing now!"

"Shut up," Rick said at a low growl. "Leave Lori out of this."

"Or what, Rick? This is Annie's life on the line, and you're treating her like nothing! I won't let you kill her too!"

I heard a crackling silence at the other end of the radio. Rick was pissed.

"You motherfucker," Rick snarled. "You dare accuse me of causing my wife's death?"

"Rick," I warned.

"Shut up, bitch," Rick silenced me in a tone I had never heard him use before.

"Don't fucking talk to her like that!" Daryl yelled.

I heard them fighting and wished I could do something to stop it.

Mustering all my courage, I looked the man straight in the eyes and said, "Let me go or I swear to God I'll end your life in the most painful way possible."

The man blinked at me for a minute as if he couldn't comprehend what I was trying to say. His expression turned stone cold right before he sent his fist flying towards my face. My nose started bleeding uncontrollably as I gaped at him.

"Good idea," he said, standing up and unbuckling his belt. "Keep your mouth open."

I screamed for Daryl, for Tyra, for anyone to help me. As the man dropped his pants down to his ankles, the door came crashing down. In the doorway stood Daryl, Tyra, and a boy who looked around fifteen. Daryl grabbed the man by the throat and pushed him down.

As he fought the man, Daryl growled, "I told you I'd break all the bones in your body if you touched her again."

Tyra untied me and handed me a tissue for my nose. I wiped the blood off it as best I could before my best friend pulled me into a tight hug.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine," I said shakily. "How did you get out?"

"Jimmy here saw Rick and Daryl fighting and helped Daryl find me. I told them you were in here so we broke in."

I turned toward Jimmy. "Are you here alone?"

He nodded. "My group was killed during a supply run here a few days ago. I stayed, hoping another group would pass through."

Jimmy looked down at Daryl, who was in the middle of breaking the man's fingers.

"Maybe we should stop him," Jimmy said.

"Daryl," I said, trying to yank him off of the man. "He's unconscious; maybe we should take him back home. We really should get out of here." Looking at Tyra and Jimmy, I told them, "Can you guys take him to the truck? There's rope in the glove compartment. If Rick is up when you stop by, bring him. If he isn't, we can carry him."

Tyra and Jimmy nodded as they pulled the man up by his arms and legs and carried him out the door.

"Daryl, I,-" I stopped when he grabbed me by the waist and lifted me into his arms. Daryl held onto me tightly. I started crying as I hugged him.

"I'm so sorry, Annie," Daryl whispered.

"It's not your fault," I assured him.

Daryl put me down and looked at me.

"No, hear me out," he said. "I shouldn't have lost control of myself with Rick. If I hadn't, I could've been here sooner. And you wouldn't have gotten hurt."

"Daryl, it's just a bloody nose."

"Yeah, but... his…"

"Nothing happened," I told him earnestly. "Stop beating yourself up about something you can't change. You were defending me, and Rick did sound like he was being an asshole. Be proud that you got here before anything happened. I love you and I'm so great full that you got here in time."

"But if I-,"

I cut him off with a kiss.

"Rick's gonna hate me now," Daryl said. "It won't be safe for us."

"Can I just enjoy a walk to the truck with my husband without worrying about anything?" I asked him.

"Okay," Daryl sighed, relaxing and surprising me.

He gave me a kiss on the forehead and took my hand in his. We walked through the mall and out the main entrance in silence, enjoying each others' company.


	19. Chaos

Daryl took one look at Rick's face when we got to the truck and retreated to the back with Tyra, Jimmy, and I. Jimmy probably figured that Rick didn't want to be messed with and stuck with the people he was more comfortable with.

After a few minutes of all of us looking around to avoid conversation, Jimmy asked the three of us, "Where were you guys when it happened?"

"I was with Carol, a member of our group, and we went to her daughter's school when it happened. We met Annie there," Daryl said.

"I was in class," I told Jimmy, who nodded. "I went across the street to get... my little brother. We lost him shortly after."

"I'm sorry," Jimmy consoled me. "I lost my sister and father a few hours after this all started. That was when none of us knew anything about the zombies. My neighbors drove me until we ran out of gas. We went our separate ways, and that's when my group found me. Who's in your group?"

"It's us three, Rick, Carol, Sophia, Hershel, Beth, Maggie, Glenn, Andrea, Milton, and Philip," Tyra said. "We had Judith, Sean, Marissa, and the twins, but they were killed. Rick lost his wife before we met him. Carl and Justin wronged the group, and they were turned away."

"So, are you guys related or something? Like step siblings?" Jimmy asked Daryl and me.

"Us? Him, my step-brother?" I laughed.

Jimmy turned to Tyra. "What's so funny?"

Tyra put a hand on his arm and said, "They're married."

"You're married?" Jimmy repeated.

"Yep," Daryl told him, putting his arm around me.

"How old are all you guys?" Jimmy asked, his eyes flicking to Tyra's for a second before looking at me.

"I'm fourteen, and Tyra must be fifteen by now." I looked at Tyra and she nodded. "Daryl's nineteen, but he had just had a birthday before this whole thing."

"What about you?" Tyra asked Jimmy.

"I was fifteen when this went down, but I should be sixteen by now."

I noticed that Tyra hadn't taken her hand off of Jimmy's arm since she had told him about me and Daryl's marriage. Tyra stole a glance at me and I gave her an approving look. She smiled and looked back at Jimmy again.

We all started talking and joking, and pretty soon the four of us were doubled over laughing from one of Jimmy's childhood stories.

"Guys," I wheezed, catching my breath. "This sounds crazy, but... I feel like everything's okay. It's like we can be teenagers again. I don't even remember what that was like."

Once we all caught our breath, Daryl's expression turned serious.

"I kicked Rick's ass earlier, and I'm not sure it's safe for Annie and me to continue living at the development. I mean, it's been great, but I don't know if it's the best choice. So I was wondering if you guys would wanna come with us," Daryl offered Tyra an Jimmy.

"Wait, why'd you kick Rick's ass?" Tyra asked.

"The guy who had you and Annie wanted Philip and he said he'd let you go. I told Rick we should hand Philip over, since we barely know him, and it's exchanging one life for two. And we don't even know what he wanted with Philip. But Rick went off about how we don't 'trade our people' or whatever, and he started insulting Annie, so I knocked him out."

"That motherfucker," Tyra whispered.

"If a guy like that wanted Philip, who says that Philip is the safest guy to be living with?" I realized.

"You guys want me to come?" Jimmy asked all of a sudden.

"Sure," Daryl said. "You helped us out at the mall. A bad guy wouldn't do that. And it'd help to have an extra pair of eyes on the road."

"We'll go back home, get our stuff, say goodbye, and head out," Tyra summarized.

"Won't everyone think it's weird if you three just leave?" Jimmy wondered.

"He's got a point," I admitted. "What if Rick makes up a story and gives us a bad name?"

"We'll tell everyone that we liked living with them, but we want to set off alone," Daryl said, thinking. "And that there's nothing wrong with anyone, we just want to make a change. Anyone who wants to can come with us."

"We can take Daryl's motorcycle, a car, and some gas along with our stuff," Tyra said.

"It's settled then. We're leaving once we get back," I announced.

I looked around at everyone, and they all nodded.

We all sat in silence for a few minutes, until the truck pulled up to the gate. Daryl and I looked at each other when we noticed the gate was open.

"Let's go," Tyra whispered, not wanting to attract any attention from walkers.

The four of us jumped down from the back of the truck and ran inside the development. My head spun as my eyes searched for the group through the chaos. I saw Philip standing on top of a car in the middle of everything, his gun raised.

"How'd he get a gun?" I asked, bewildered.

"We've got bigger problems," Daryl said, pointing to the herd of walkers heading our way.

We raced to Carol's house, which was the farthest away from the slow-moving herd.

"Carol!" I yelled as we barged in. "You here?"

"Over here!" a voice called weakly.

Carol and Sophia sat huddled in the corner away from the windows.

"What happened?" Tyra asked.

"Philip started going crazy. He took a gun and was shooting in the air. He made Glenn open the gate and let the walkers in," Carol whimpered. "We came here. I have no idea what happened to anyone else."

"Stay here," I told her, patting her on the shoulder. "We'll bring the others here and get Philip under control."

Carol nodded and we left. Back outside, things were worse than they had been a couple minutes earlier. More walkers had stumbled through the gate and Philip hadn't relinquished his perch on the car.

"Let's split up," Jimmy suggested. "Tyra and I will go left, Annie and Daryl will go right. We can all meet back here."

Jimmy took Tyra's hand and they ran off the opposite direction that Daryl and I were going.

We headed to the house on the edge of the development that Glenn and Maggie shared. But before we could even get that far, I tripped and fell. Daryl helped me up, and I cried out when I realized that I had landed right next to Maggie.

"Maggie?" I asked, shaking her.

Daryl felt her neck for a pulse. He looked at me and shook his head.

"She'll turn..." he started.

I nodded and he stuck an arrow in Maggie's head. Glenn came racing around the corner as if on cue.

"Oh my god! Maggie!" Glenn screamed.

He knelt down next to her with tear filled eyes.

Looking at us, Glenn asked, "Is she..."

Daryl gave him a solemn nod. Glenn sobbed and threw his arms around Maggie's body.

"I never should have let her go!" he cried. "I shouldn't have let her out of my sight!"

"Don't blame yourself, Glenn," I said quietly. "There's no telling what happened."

Daryl pointed to Maggie's black sweater, which appeared to be soaked in blood. I lifted her shirt to reveal several bullet wounds on her stomach and chest.

"Philip," Glenn seethed.

"Glenn, that's not the best idea," Daryl tried to tell him.

Glenn jumped up and started to run towards Philip. He stopped and turned around.

"Make sure we're buried together," he told Daryl and I before running off.

"Glenn, no!" I shouted.

But Glenn was already at the car on which Philip was standing. I could see Glenn yelling at him. Philip smiled and lowered his gun to Glenn's head, but then paused for a minute. He pointed his gun even farther downwards and shot both of Glenn's knees.

Glenn screamed as the walkers advanced on him. Daryl turned me away before the herd grabbed Glenn. We heard his screams as we departed, knowing there was nothing we could do.

"Daryl, I haven't seen any of the others around," I gasped for breath as we ran faster. "Should we go back to Carol's?"

Daryl nodded and we circled around back to the house we had agreed to meet Tyra and Jimmy at.

When we got inside, we saw Tyra crying on Jimmy's shoulder.

"What happened?" I asked. "Were you bitten?"

Jimmy shook his head gravely.

Carol spoke up, "They came back a few minutes ago. They saw Andrea eaten alive."

Tyra pulled away from Jimmy to add, "We saw Beth and Hershel run off, but we have no idea about anyone else."

"Did you guys see anything?" Jimmy asked.

"Maggie was killed by Philip's gun, and when Glenn found out..." I stopped and looked to Daryl for help.

He cleared his throat and finished, "Glenn started yelling at Philip and he got shot in the legs. The herd got him."

"And no one's seen Milton?" Carol asked.

We all looked at each other and shook our heads.

"Where's Rick?" Sophia piped.

"Good question," Daryl replied.

"You will not rule us!" Rick screamed.

"Oh, Christ," Tyra swore. "He's ranting to Philip."

"Rick!" Daryl yelled as he ran outside, flanked by Tyra, Jimmy, and me.

"Well if it isn't the Three Musketeers!" Philip cried. "You seem to have an extra member."

"Why are you even doing this, Philip?" Tyra called.

"I was tired of living in this dictatorship we have going on here," Philip confessed. "Now I have all the power."

"What do you want?" I demanded.

"I want to be the leader of this place. You will all live under my rules, or you can leave in an hour."

Rick turned to us. "Guys?"

"We're leaving," Jimmy spoke up. "The four of us."

"I'll be damned if I live under Philip," Rick agreed. "But I'll go on my own."

He eyed Daryl, who avoided his gaze. Rick's eyes turned soft as he looked at me, but I turned on my heel and faced Philip again.

"We're leaving," I told him. "Thanks to you, Glenn, Maggie, and Andrea are dead, Beth and Hershel ran off in the chaos, and no one knows where Milton is. I'll ask Carol and Sophia what they want to do."

"Alright," Philip announced. "Leave here in an hour."


	20. Open Road

"We're staying," Carol repeated.

"Why?" I asked.

We were sitting in Carol's living room with Sophia while the others got their belongings.

"It may not be the safest under Philip, but if we abide by his rules, we'll be safer here than on the road," Carol confided.

I looked down into my lap, and Carol realized what she had said.

"I'm sorry, Annie. I know you'll be fine on the road. I didn't mean that."

I waved her off, "It's fine. I know what you meant."

"Well, I guess this is goodbye," Carol sighed.

I hugged her and Sophia and left the house. I wished they were coming with us, but Carol was right; it wasn't safe for Sophia to have to live on the road in fear. I was sure they'd both be getting lots of sleep tonight, unlike those of us who were hitting the road.

Heading over to my house, I held the door open for Tyra and Jimmy, who were each holding two bags.

"Thanks for helping, Jimmy," Tyra told him as she looked into his eyes.

"No problem," Jimmy replied, gazing down at her. "If you don't mind, there is something I might ask for in return."

"Oh?" Tyra asked, feigning surprise. "And what's that?"

I turned around and went inside to give them their privacy. I almost ran straight into Daryl, who was carrying our bags.

He dropped our stuff and lifted me into his arms, saying, "Hey, babe."

I wrapped my legs around him and kissed him. Today was another experience that had made me realize just how precious life is, and I knew I didn't want to lose Daryl.

He must've been thinking the same thing, because his kiss became more passionate. Daryl brought me over to the couch and sat down. He had just pulled his shirt off over his head when the door swung open.

"Oh, uh..." Jimmy stammered.

Tyra joined him in the doorway to say, "Our hour to get out of here is almost up."

"Alright, just give us a minute," Daryl said to my surprise.

"That doesn't take a minute," Tyra corrected him.

"You know what I mean."

"Look, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I sure as hell don't want Philip to blow my head off. Let's get out of here. You two can fuck once we find a place to stay tonight."

The door swung shut and Daryl looked at me.

"You heard her," I reprimanded, trying to stifle a laugh.

Daryl rolled his eyes and yanked his shirt back on. I took one last look at the house and followed Daryl outside. Tyra and Jimmy were waiting for us in the car.

"We'll take the bike," Daryl said. "I'll lead the way."

"Do you know where you're going?" Jimmy asked.

"Do you?" Daryl countered.

Jimmy shook his head.

"Then that makes two of us," Daryl grinned.

I got on the motorcycle behind Daryl and we sped off.

"Daryl?" I yelled over the engine of the bike.

We had been driving for about twenty minutes, and we were going in no apparent direction.

"Yeah?" he yelled back.

"Where are we going?"

"I have no idea," Daryl admitted. "How about you let Tyra and Jimmy know that we're stopping and we'll decide where to go?"

I nodded, and then, remembering he couldn't see me, I said, "Okay."

I turned around and waved to Jimmy, who was driving. He nodded and pulled over to the side of the road behind Daryl.

As Daryl and I dismounted the motorcycle, Tyra and Jimmy climbed out of the car. The four of us met between the two vehicles.

"What's up?" Tyra asked.

"We're trying to figure out where to go," I explained.

"There's a sign over there for the casino at the next exit," Jimmy said, pointing behind Daryl and me.

I turned around to see that Jimmy was right. Below the casino's name, the sign displayed the name of the town in which it was located.

Tyra and I locked eyes and exchanged the same look of excitement and fear.

"Is anything wrong?" Daryl asked, watching me worriedly.

"That town," Tyra whispered.

"It's where we used to live," I told him.

"Well, why not pay your old place a visit?" Jimmy suggested.

"Seriously?" Tyra asked, grabbing his hand.

"Yeah, why not?" Daryl agreed. "We could probably find a place to stay."

"But for now, let's camp out here," Jimmy said.

"It's too dangerous," I argued.

Jimmy opened the truck of the car and hauled out two bags.

"We can use these," Jimmy reassured me.

"Jimmy, you're a genius!" Daryl laughed. "Where did you even find tents?"

"When I was helping Tyra with her stuff, I found them in the hall closet. I figured we could use them."

We began pitching the tents, deciding that Tyra and I would take one and Daryl and Jimmy would take another. Tyra and Jimmy still didn't know each other well enough to sleep in the same tent, and I hadn't gotten to spend time with her in a while.

"Are you excited to go home?" Tyra asked.

"Yeah, but I'm scared," I confided. "What about you?"

"Same as you. I don't want to see the school or my house overrun, but at the same time, I have to know."

"Me too."

We had finished with the tent when Daryl came to get me.

"I'm gonna go hunt. Wanna come?"

I looked at Tyra and she nodded.

"Yeah, I'll come," I agreed.

We walked off together into the woods.


	21. Coming Home

When Daryl and I came back with some squirrel for dinner, Tyra and Jimmy were making a fire. We started cooking the squirrel and sat down.

"Remember that time in chorus class when we laughed so hard at something one girl said?" Tyra asked me.

"And when we went on that trip and that kid kept shaking the fence?" I smiled.

"Oh yeah, and we told him he had the maturity level of a five year old, and he called us forty."

"And when we sang in the talent show and I almost tripped on the microphone cord?"

"Wait, you two sing?" Jimmy asked.

"Yeah," I said, and Tyra nodded.

"Sing something for us," Daryl tried to persuade us.

"What should we sing?" I wondered aloud.

"How about the song we sang for the talent show?" Tyra offered. "Do you remember the words?"

I nodded. "Do you?"

"Yeah. Let's do it."

Tyra began, "And the blood will dry underneath my nails. And the wind will rise up to fill my sails. So you can doubt and you can hate. But I know, whatever it takes, I'm coming home, I'm coming home. Tell the world I'm coming home. Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday. I know my kingdom awaits, and they've forgiven my mistakes. I'm coming home, I'm coming home, tell the world I'm coming home."

I started my part, "Still far away from where I belong. But it's always darkest before the dawn. So you can doubt and you can hate. But I know, no matter what it takes, I'm coming home, I'm coming home. Tell the world I'm coming home. Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday. I know my kingdom awaits, and they've forgiven my mistakes. I'm coming home, I'm coming home, tell the world I'm coming..."

Tyra and I sang together, "I'm coming home, I'm coming home. Tell the world I'm coming home. Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday. I know my kingdom awaits, and they've forgiven my mistakes. I'm coming home, I'm coming home. Tell the world I'm coming... Home."

"Wow," Jimmy breathed.

"That was amazing," Daryl said.

Tyra and I looked at each other. "Well, it seemed to fit the situation," she explained.

"Before we all go to sleep, I'd like to have a word with my wife," Daryl told the other two, getting up and grabbing my hand.

Daryl led me into the woods a little ways. He sat down on a fallen tree and pulled me into his lap.

"I just wanted to show you how much I appreciate-,"

"Daryl!" I screamed.

Almost close enough to touch, a few walkers had made their way out of the shadows and had been stumbling towards us.

I jumped off his lap and he quickly stood up. We looked at each other and started running. Daryl tripped over a rock and I grabbed his hand to pull him up.

"Shit!" Daryl yelled.

"What happened?" I yelled in a panicked voice.

Daryl showed me his hand. His left pinky finger was bitten off right above the knuckle. I stared at him in shock.

"Don't worry about it," Daryl told me. "We need to go. Now."

We found Tyra and Jimmy and told them what was happening.

"I'll get my gun," Jimmy said, starting towards his tent.

"The sound will attract more of them," Tyra disagreed. "It's best to just nip this in the bud without making it worse."

Tyra and Jimmy each grabbed two knives and started running to the herd. I focused on Daryl.

"What are we going to do?" I asked tearfully.

"It's alright," Daryl muttered.

"No, it's not! You'll die!"

"Hand me my knife," he demanded. "It's in my back pocket."

I handed him his knife, which was wrapped in a doo rag. Daryl pulled the rag off and put it in his mouth.

"Hold this in my mouth, no matter what I do. I don't wanna make any noise."

I did as he asked. I sat next to Daryl, gaping, as he brought his knife down on his finger. Daryl grabbed the rag and wrapped it around the bloody area that used to be his finger.

"I had to stop the infection," Daryl explained when he saw my face. "Like Tyra said; nip it in the bud."

"How do you know you stopped the disease?" I choked, finding my voice.

"I don't. But I'm willing to take that chance. Lose a finger versus lose my life and lose you. It was an easy decision."

I wrapped my arms around Daryl and he pulled me against him. Tyra and Jimmy departed the woods at a sprint. They halted in front of us, panting.

"Everything okay?" Tyra asked.

"My finger got bit," Daryl told her. "So I cut it off. Just in case, though, I'll sleep outside tonight."

"Daryl, that's suicide!" I exclaimed.

"I can't risk anyone else's safety. Goodnight, guys," he said, giving me a kiss. "Love you," Daryl whispered in my ear.

"Come on, Annie," Tyra reassured me, grabbing my arm. "Let's go. He'll be okay."

We entered our tent and Jimmy went into his. I waited until I knew Tyra was asleep before leaving the tent. I paused in front of Jimmy's and listened. After a few minutes, I heard deep snoring and knew it was okay to pass. Daryl had isolated himself and was away from the tents. He was also asleep, so I curled up against him and soon my breathing fell into rhythm with his.

It only seemed like a few hours later when I felt Daryl stir. I opened my eyes and he was looking at me.

"Are you crazy?" he asked. "You could've gotten yourself killed!"

"You could've too," I said quietly.

"I was bitten! What if I turned in the middle of the night and killed you?" Daryl yelled.

"But you didn't."

"That's not my point, Annie," he sighed, getting up.

I pulled myself to my feet and stared him down.

"I understand that, but I wasn't going to leave my husband-,"

"It's not about me; it's about you!"

"I don't care!" I contradicted as I let my voice grow louder.

"You don't think you're important?"

"That's not what I… Look, I know I could've gotten hurt. But I didn't want you to spend the night alone out here."

"You don't need to look after me!" Daryl spat.

"I was just trying to help! You're acting like my father! I'm not a kid!"

"Your father? How is a father supposed to act, Annie? Cuz I'm pretty sure I'd fuck that up just like my own father did!"

"Is this what this is about? We don't even need to talk about kids right now," I whispered, my voice barely audible.

"I just… I don't want to mess someone up like my parents did to me."

"I don't care. I don't care about kids. Hell, we're still teenagers! It doesn't matter."

Daryl started laughing.

"What?" I asked irritably. "I thought we were having a conversation."

"We're fighting over kids and the world is ending," he gasped.

I looked at his sideways smile and started giggling. Pretty soon we had collapsed on the ground and out of breath.

"Guys?" Tyra called. "Are we still going?"

"Yeah, yeah," Daryl assured her, wiping his eyes.

"We're coming," I told her, standing up.

The four of us packed up the tents and our belongings.

"We should find a truck to transport your bike so we don't use the gas," Jimmy told Daryl.

Daryl nodded and climbed on to the motorcycle. I followed suit and watched Tyra and Jimmy get into the car. Tyra waved for us to lead the way. I let Daryl know and the camp was soon far behind.

**Author's Note: I want to know if you guys like the idea of putting music in this chapter. It won't always be singing; it could just be some lyrics in the beginning or the end. I've seen some other fanfic writers do this and I wanted to try it out. Let me know in the reviews what you think of this. Love you all :)**

**The song used in this chapter is called **_Coming Home, Pt. II _**by Skylar Grey. You can find it on YouTube, Spotify, iTunes, and probably any other music program. I am in no way affiliated with the song or the artist.**


	22. Anna

"Here!" Tyra yelled out suddenly.

We pulled to a stop next to a car dealership. Well, dealership was an overstatement. Our town was too small to have a legit dealership, so some big shot farmer had bought a bunch of used cars, fixed and repainted them, and then jacked up the prices. I looked behind me and saw that my friend was pointing towards a blue pickup truck.

"I bet the cars have gas in them," I said.

"I'll look in the house for some gas cans," Jimmy offered.

"I can start siphoning gas from these cars," Daryl agreed. "Annie and Tyra can watch the car and look around for supplies."

Tyra looked at me. "Do you wanna stay here or look for tools?"

"I'll go," I suggested."My legs are kind of stiff from sitting on the bike."

Tyra nodded and I hopped off, stretching my tired legs. After a few minutes, I walked off without the tiny pains my legs had felt a short while ago.

I headed to the barn and swung open one of the doors. There were some gas cans in the corner, and I made a mental note to bring them out to Daryl.

I checked behind the hay bales for any tools, but I had no luck. I turned to grab the gas cans, but I noticed something was wrong. As I got closer, I realized one of the cans was overturned.

"Hello?" I asked.

I turned around and looked down to see a girl in an oversized bloody sweater. I knelt down next to her.

"What's your name, honey?" I inquired as quietly and sweetly as I could.

"Don't call me that. I'm twelve years old."

"Oh, I'm sorry. What's your name?"

The girl looked at me for a minute with black eyes. I noticed that she was very pale with a skin tone lighter than my own. Her eyes were lined with purple circles, telling me that she hadn't had a good night's sleep in a very long time. None of us had, but this girl looked worse.

"Anna," she rasped.


	23. Back in Time

**Author's Note: This chapter is darker than usual, but I wanted to portray Anna's past. I know it's weird to have Anna and Annie in the same fanfiction; I wanted to use the name Anna because of the song ("Anna Begins" by Counting Crows) at the end of this chapter. I apologize for the shortness of this chapter and the one before it, but I'll make up for it.**

Three months earlier: Anna's POV

"Mom?" I whispered.

"Hush, Anna," my mom silenced me. "We're hiding, remember?"

"I know, Mom. I just… This has been going on for too long. When's it going to stop?"

"Didn't I tell you to be quiet?" my mother hissed.

"These things will kill us. Hiding won't make a difference," I spoke up.

"Shut up! Don't you understand that there are worse things than the dead after us?! You're worthless!"

I felt a stinging pain as her hand snapped back and lashed out on my left cheek. I lowered my head, expecting more pain. There was always more. My mother had never only hit me once.

She wasn't finished yelling. "I never wanted a child! I never wanted you! It's your fault your father left us! It's your fault he's after me! You're a problem, Anna, and you're sure as hell not mine to put up with!"

My mom's fist jabbed at my face and she managed to break my nose. The door rattled open and the zombies came into the room.

"Look what you've done!" my mother shrieked.

She grabbed for her pocket knife. I knew I had really screwed up this time. She had never threatened me with the knife before. In her haste to open it, my mother dropped the pocket knife and it slid across the floor towards me. Seeing my chance, I scooped it up and ran.

"Anna!" she screamed. "Come back here!"

I ran out of the house and heard my mom's screams for help as the dead were upon her.

"You'll rot in hell, Anna! You'll rot in hell!"

That was the last thing I heard her say before the house became silent. I knew that the zombies would soon leave the place and see me in the yard. I sped off, still clenching my mother's knife.

I found a cottage in the woods to stay the night and curled myself into a ball in the corner. I started crying. My mother's words never left my mind. She always reminded me that I was worthless, no good, a mistake, a problem, her burden, another mouth to feed, ugly, and stupid. These thoughts were drilled into my mind and had been since I was young. When the dead rose up and started eating the living, the abuse got worse.

I rolled up my sleeves to reveal bruises and scars. The bruises were shaped like fingers, as my mother always grabbed my arms before she pushed me against the wall. The scars were from a year ago. Before the world ended, I had had no friends or anyone who cared about me. School was terrible and home was a nightmare. I would shut myself in the closet and make a few cuts here and there. When my mother found out, she gave me a concussion.

Now I turned back to that side of me and pressed the pocket knife against my skin.

Through my tears, I remembered a song. It had my name in it, and it reminded me of myself.

"She's talking in her sleep. It's keeping me awake. And Anna begins to toss and turn. And every word is nonsense but I understand it all. I'm not ready for this sort of thing."


	24. New Arrivals

Anna's dark eyes bore into mine once more. She had just rolled up her sleeves, letting me know what was going on.

"Anna, it doesn't need to be like this," I promised. "There are three other people with me. You can join us. We're just trying to find a place to stay."

"You have a gun?" Anna whispered.

"I… Anna, you have to keep going. There's something to live for."

"The pain never goes away."

The expression on her face broke my heart, but I reassured her, "It doesn't. You just make room for it."

I heard screaming coming from the distance. My hand jumped to my pistol in my back pocket. I ran outside with my gun raised in case of an attack.

"Don't shoot! Please!" a man yelled. "My wife was bitten!"

Leaning on his arm was a woman with a very noticeable walker bite on her right shoulder. With the couple were a teenage boy, a young woman, and a man that looked about the same age as the man and his wife.

"We don't want any trouble, but there's a herd heading this way," the boy said. "Can we take shelter in your barn until it passes?"

"It's not ours, but knock yourselves out," Tyra offered.

"Thank you!" the young woman cried.

We all made our way into the barn. Daryl and Jimmy were the last inside and grabbed a few pitch forks to put in the door handles. They leaned against the door as an extra precaution.

"Allen, she's…" the other man told the husband.

"Tyreese, we can't!" the young woman exclaimed.

Tyreese shook his head. After a moment, he slowly nodded.

"What the fuck? That's my mom!" the boy yelled angrily. "What are you planning on doing? Killing her?"

Tyreese looked down at the ground. "Look, Ben, it's the only way we can help her. Donna's in pain. If we don't do it soon, she'll die and then turn."

"Sasha?" Allen asked tiredly, turning to the woman.

"As much as I hate it, my brother's right," Sasha sighed, watching Tyreese. "We can't let her turn. She's a danger to these people who have taken us in. It needs to end."

"You can't do this!" Ben screamed, tears racing down his cheeks.

Allen pulled his son into his arms. They held each other as Ben sobbed.

"Tyreese?" Allen sniffed. "Please?"

Tyreese nodded at his friend. Pulling a hammer from his belt, he lifted his arm high into the air and brought the tool down on Donna's head. Tyreese covered her with a blanket in the corner and returned to the rest of us.

"I'm sorry," I told the four of them.

"Thank you people for helping us," Sasha said. "If it weren't for you, we'd all be dead right about now."

"Who are you guys?" Allen asked. Ben had lied down behind him and looked as if he were asleep, so the other three joined Tyra and me on the floor. Daryl and Jimmy at the doors.

"I'm Tyra. This is Annie, Daryl, and Jimmy," Tyra introduced us.

"This is our home town. It's where we were when it happened. I met Daryl in town, we found Tyra later, and we just recently met Jimmy," I explained.

"You had a group this small the whole time?" Tyreese questioned.

"There were others," Daryl spoke up. "We just left a development we lived in with a bigger group. One man went crazy and took over. Those of us who didn't die in the fight either stayed behind or moved on. We left, along with Rick. He was our leader, but things went south between me and him."

"Rick lost his wife, son, and newborn daughter," I sympathized. "He did get kind of strange, but who can blame him?"

"And some of you are related?" Sasha assumed.

"Tyra and Annie are friends; Daryl and Annie are married. And Tyra is my girlfriend," Jimmy supplied.

Tyra blushed and looked down into her lap.

We heard a cough from the hayloft. Almost everyone grabbed for their guns, but I put a hand out to stop them.

"Anna?" I called. "It's alright, guys. I met a girl here just before the herd showed up."

The ladder creaked slightly as Anna made her way down. All eyes were on her, and she shifted uncomfortably. Anna kept her eyes glued to what was left of her shoes.

"Anna, this is Daryl, Tyra, and Jimmy. They're the members of my group I was telling you about," I said softly. "And here's Tyreese, Sasha, Allen, and Ben. Some walkers are passing through and we all took shelter here."

Anna nodded and sat down away from everyone else. Tyra opened her mouth to welcome Anna over with the rest of us, but I shook my head. Tyra nodded, realizing that the girl needed time.

"So you know about us," Tyra directed her words to Tyreese. "Who are you guys?"

"Sasha and I shared an apartment. We hadn't lived together since we were kids, but we thought it'd be a good idea to help support each other," Tyreese began. "When this all started, we didn't even know Allen, Ben, and Donna. But we were watching the news and we saw what was happening. We knew our neighbor a few doors down had a ton of weapons; he was into gun ranges and hunting."

"So we went to ask for his help when we heard a gun go off," Sasha started. "Tyreese busted the door down and he was sitting on his couch with his favorite gun to his head. We grabbed his weapons and some supplies from our own place and took off. Allen was the janitor of the building, and we helped him find his family. Once everyone was together, we had planned on giving them food and weapons and heading our separate ways, but the city was a mess."

"They got us out of there," Allen spoke hoarsely. He cleared his throat. "By then we all got pretty close and decided it was easier to stay together than take our chances on our own. We were planning on moving toward the coast, but when we heard there were no boats, we turned the other way. Like you guys, we had others, but they were taken from us by the dead. Sometimes even by the living."

"Can we join your group?" Ben asked, startling everyone. He sat up, continuing, "I mean, we all know it's better with more people. We can all fight and hold our own. If we all stick together and find a few houses, we can help each other clear them out. Not all of us have to live together. And it'd be nice to have some people with us who know the town."

"Let us talk about it," Daryl told the four of them.

We walked outside after checking to make sure that the herd was long gone.

"We do need more people," I whispered.

"But they could be dangerous," Daryl argued.

"Is it worth the risk?" Jimmy asked.

"Look what happened with Philip," Tyra said.

"But we took Jimmy in. He's never hurt any of us and he's definitely worth having around," I protested.

"That's true," Tyra agreed. "We've had so many people in our group, and Philip was the only one who did anything wrong. Everyone else provided us great assets."

"Strength in numbers, right?" Jimmy nodded.

Daryl sighed, scratching his head. When he noticed all of our gazes, he muttered, "What are ya'll looking to me for? I'm not your leader."

"Let's vote," Tyra decided. "All in favor?" she paused. "All opposed?"

"It's settled, then," I nodded.

The four of us entered the barn again.

"We've decided that all of you can stay with us," Daryl announced.

Through all the "thank you"s from the people who had doubled the size of our group, I focused in on Anna. I walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"You know, that means you, too," I murmured, taking her hands.

"Really?" she said shyly.

"Really."

Anna squeezed my hands, and for a moment I thought I saw her smile.


	25. A Place to Call Home

We spent the next few weeks securing the barn as best we could. We siphoned the gas from other cars into the car and our new truck. It took all nine of us to lift Daryl's motorcycle into the back of the truck, but he agreed he wouldn't want to take it out unless we needed it.

The doors of the barn were barricaded at night, and we rarely went outside. There was a buddy system for going to the bathroom so that no one was taken by surprise if another herd were to pass through. If anyone saw a walker, they were to kill it quickly and quietly. In the event of more than twenty of them, everyone would go into the barn and be silent until they passed. We had had no problem fighting off the zombies that would pass through, since everyone in the group was able bodied.

Whenever other survivors passed and asked to come into the group, we would let them stay in a car for a few days until we decided if they were dangerous or not. By the end of the month (Sasha had been trying to keep a calendar of sorts), we had taken in T-Dog, Amy, and Shane, who seemed like good people. We had welcomed the weary looking Beth and Hershel back into the group, but never saw signs of Rick.

On the day that marked the third week since we had found the barn, Daryl wanted to talk to us. Tyreese, Sasha, Jimmy, Tyra, Beth, and I were invited, while the others stayed back. Shane was on watch, so we knew we were safe.

"I've been thinking of mentioning to the group that we should move on," Daryl suggested. "When we came here, we said it wouldn't be permanent, and now that we have fourteen of us, it'd be nice to have a few real houses. I just wanted to mention it before we secure the barn more, and then end up leaving it."

Everyone else seemed to agree, until Beth said, "But how will we find a place? With fourteen of us out on the road, it's dangerous."

"We could send a scouting group out to go find and clear out some homes before we move out people in," I mentioned.

"That sounds like a good idea," Tyra nodded.

We all went into the barn to let the group know. Shane was relieved of watch, and we closed and locked the doors.

With everyone listening, Tyreese announced, "We all know that the barn has gotten kind of cramped after taking in new people. Some of us have talked and we want to send a few people out to go look for houses. They would clear the places out and make sure they didn't have any entry points for walkers, like broken windows or doors that don't shut. Having a fenced in area would be nice, too."

"We want to know if you all agree with this idea," Jimmy added, "And if you do, we'll need to know who is willing to help with watch here and who will come with us. We don't need more than five people on the scouting trip."

"I like it," Amy piped.

"Me too," Hershel seconded.

"Does anyone disagree?" Beth asked.

Shane stood in the corner, shaking his head.

"Is there a problem, Shane?" Jimmy challenged.

"I just don't think it's a good idea to break up the group," Shane muttered.

"What else are we going to do? Sit in this barn forever?" I countered.

"This barn is safe, okay?"

"Not for long. Not when we take in more people."

"Look, Annie, it's obvious that there will be a new addition to the group eventually. We all know that you and Daryl sneak off together at night," Shane snapped.

"Shane, if you've got something to say to me, say it," I fired back. "Don't pussy out."

"I'm just saying that there are other things to do with your time than fuck your redneck monkey when the world is ending. Now I don't know about everyone else, but that fits my definition of a dirty whore."

Daryl lunged toward Shane, but Jimmy grabbed him and pulled him back. Tyreese helped Jimmy take Daryl outside.

I walked calmly up to Shane and tried to get my face close to his, but he was a good foot and couple inches taller than me. I settled for giving him a stone cold look and taking a deep breath.

"Listen, Shane, I don't know who you think you are, but if you couldn't tell, the people in this group appreciate the way we run things here. So if you have a problem with me, you can let Daryl fuck your face up or you can leave. I'll leave it up to you," I told him sweetly.

I started to walk away, but turned on my heel and marched back to Shane.

"And one more thing."

I brought my right arm back and my hand connected with his face with a loud slap.

"Now, do we have any volunteers for the group?" Sasha asked once I rejoined her and the others.

Daryl, Tyreese, and Jimmy came back into the barn just in time to hear Sasha's question.

"I'll go," Daryl volunteered, trying his best to not look at Shane.

"Anyone who wants to come, please raise your hand," Beth addressed everyone.

Daryl, Sasha, Jimmy, Tyra, and I all raised our hands.

"Tyreese and Beth? You guys aren't coming?" Sasha said, surprised.

"I'll stay here and help keep order," Beth told Sasha.

"And someone will need to keep an eye on Shane," Tyreese whispered. He raised his voice so everyone could hear and said, "Beth and I are staying here. Five of us will go out and everyone else will stay back."

"We still have enough daylight today if we leave now," Tyra observed.

"That'll be enough time to find a few places and clear them out," Jimmy agreed.

"Let's go," I said. "We'll take a car."

After leaving the barn, the five of us looked for a bigger car. We found a minivan, so Sasha drove with Jimmy next to her. Tyra and I sat in the two middle seats while Daryl took the seat way in the back. He was watching for walkers or people, who we had learned were the worst of the two evils.

"Sasha, look out!" Jimmy yelled suddenly.

All of us looked toward the road just in time to see a herd passing by. Sasha slammed on the brakes, but the car plunged straight into the middle of the herd. I looked over at Tyra a second before we crashed and saw her body lunge with the sudden stop of the car. Sasha tried to turn the car, but she had no success. I was getting some pretty bad whiplash, and just when I thought it was over, the van did a jolting 360. My head hit the window with a thump and everything went black.


	26. Daryl

Daryl's POV

"Oh, shit," I groaned.

I was thrown across the backseat of the car. I had no idea what had happened. We had been driving and then out of nowhere we crashed.

"Great," I muttered as I looked down at my fallen crossbow. Most of the arrows looked broken beyond repair.

I blinked a few times to clear my vision. Sasha and Jimmy were coming to in the front.

"Is everyone alright back there?" Jimmy asked, turning his head to face me.

"I'm fine," I whispered hoarsely.

Clearing my throat, I made my way to the middle of the car. Tyra was waking up now, but Annie still sat unmoving in her seat. I moved her head from the window and saw a long streak of blood from the impact.

"Sasha!" Tyra screamed when she saw her friend's blood.

Sasha and Jimmy looked to see Annie's slumped figure against the seat.

"Oh, god," Sasha breathed. "We've got to get back. Hershel will know what to do."

We sped off while I stayed on my knees in between the two seats, holding Annie's limp hands. Tyra sobbed next to me. I put my hand on her shoulder awkwardly.

We arrived at the barn quicker than I had expected. Jimmy took Tyra inside and let her collapse into his arms. Sasha alerted everyone of the situation while I carried my wife inside.

"Annie!" Anna screamed.

Beth gasped and her father stood in front of her. "Everyone, I'm going to need some space," he told the crowd that had gathered.

I saw Shane standing in the corner, and I ran towards him with fury.

"Bet you feel like a fucking asshole for what you said to her earlier, huh?" I yelled. "Or do you feel good about all this? You fuck up! You shit dick! You-,"

"Stop!" Tyreese shouted as he pulled me out of Shane's face. "This isn't helping anyone! Shane, get out of here. You shouldn't be here. None of you should be in here. This is for Daryl and Hershel to handle with Tyra and Jimmy. Everyone, get out!"

Tyreese pulled all but the small scouting group and Hershel outside. He stopped at the door and looked in.

"Sasha? You coming?" he asked softly.

Sasha nodded, holding back tears. She wrapped her arms around her brother and whimpered. He held her and made his way out the doors. They shut with a slam.

"Hershel?" I said.

"As you could probably tell, Annie suffered a large trauma wound to her head," Hershel sighed. "I don't have the materials to stitch her up or do anything for her."

"I could make a run," I offered.

Hershel shook his head gravely. "By then, it may be too late."

My vision blurred and before I knew it, I was crying. I had never done this before. Not even when my mom died had it hurt this much. But with Annie…

"She isn't dead," I said flatly.

I knew I had to be strong for my wife, so I wiped my eyes and knelt down beside her.

"Now if we could-," Hershel began.

He was cut off by an ear-splitting scream. We all turned our attention to the doors of the barn.

"Help!" Tyreese yelled.

I jumped up and ran outside, clutching my knife. I looked back and realized that my crossbow was still in the van with only a few useful arrows.

Sasha was wailing as Tyreese held his shirt to her neck. I realized that she had been bitten.

"What the fuck is happening?" I asked the group.

"Daryl!" Beth screamed as she pointed to a steady moving herd of what looked like fifty walkers.

"Everyone, into the barn, now!" I yelled.

Beth sprinted inside, followed by T-Dog and Amy. Tyreese helped Sasha get in. Before we knew it, the herd was right on top of us. People screamed as multiple walkers took them down. No one else could get to the barn.

"You can't close the door!" Beth shrieked when I pulled it shut.

"Those walkers will come in here for us next! The least we can do is keep ourselves safe," I stressed to her.

"Allen? Ben?" Tyreese whispered.

He listened at the door, but all we could make out were a few weak cries which soon drained away. The zombies groaned as they wandered around after they were finished eating our friends.

"Let me go!" Sasha struggled against her brother.

"Are you crazy? They'll kill you!" Tyreese stammered.

"I'm already dead," Sasha cried. She pulled away and ran out the doors. Tyreese and Amy ran after her, begging her to come back inside.

The herd was upon Sasha in two seconds flat. Within another five seconds, Tyreese and Amy were surrounded. Within another ten, they were on the ground.

I pulled away from the door just in time to see T-Dog raise his gun to his head.

"You'll make them come in here!" I snapped. "T-Dog, if you want to kill yourself, now is not the time!"

"Then let me run for it," he growled. "Let me take Beth and Hershel and a car and get far away from here."

"Go," I told them. "If you want to go, go."

"Daryl, come with us," Hershel pleaded. "We can make this work."

"I'm not coming," I said, shaking my head.

"Tyra? Jimmy?" T-Dog asked.

Neither of them responded. Tyra stood with her mouth agape until Jimmy finally mumbled a "no".

"Best of luck to all of you," Hershel patted me on the back.

The three of them left and made a run for the car. I heard the engine instead of their screams, so I knew that they would be alright.

"Annie?" Tyra whispered.

I looked down to see Annie give a small cough. "What's happening?" she asked.


	27. Three

Annie's POV

"What happened?" I moaned.

"It's a long story," Daryl told me. "We were in a car crash and you got hurt pretty badly. Hershel, Beth, and T-Dog took a car. Everyone else was outside when the herd passed through, and… They're gone."

"Tyra!" I yelled. "Tyra!"

"I'm right here, hon," Tyra said, instantly by my side.

"Me too," Jimmy piped up.

"Guys, I can't do this anymore," I murmured softly.

"What?" Tyra cried.

"I can't. You think we'll all live when the herd is outside? My head is bleeding, for Christ's sake! We're all going to die sooner or later in this world."

"Annie, you can't think like this," Daryl pleaded.

"I'm doing it," I said firmly. "If you guys don't want to see, get out. I've lost my patience with this world."

"When did you decide this?" Tyra cried.

"I've been thinking about it for a little while," I said. "It seems weird and cliché to say it out loud, but I'd rather die on my terms."

"You can't," Daryl whispered.

"I can."

"You can't without me. We both have guns."

"I can't let you throw your life away…"

"I'm not letting you do it without me. There is no 'til death do us part'. I'm never leaving you."

I nodded and turned to Tyra. She was sobbing.

"You guys need to get a car and leave," I told her as we hugged. "Be safe."

Tyra seemed like she was trying to say something back, but her body was shaking too much.

I stepped back. "I love you, bean."

"I… love you t-too," she choked.

Jimmy held Tyra against him as Daryl and I pulled out our guns. We linked our arms through each other so that each of our guns was pointed at our heads.

"I love you, Daryl," I sniffed. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too," he said. "You sure you want to do this?"

I nodded. "One…"

We counted together, "Two…"

Just before we got to three, I knocked Daryl's gun from his hand.

"Jimmy!" I yelled.

He scooped up Daryl's gun, and before anyone could stop me, I looked straight at Daryl.

I took a breath and said confidently, "Three."

**A/N: I hope you guys liked my fanfiction. I'll miss writing it, but it's gotten to a point where it just needed to end. I'll be working on my new one with Stephanie, and I have new ideas for later on. I will keep writing and I appreciate all of you reading and sticking with me for this long. I really didn't want to kill off almost everyone, but it's more realistic than suddenly finding a cure for the infection. Again, I felt that the ending was cliché, but that's how I had to end it. Goodbye to the characters of **_When I Met Daryl Dixon_**. I love you all. See you soon in **_Military Training_**.**


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